Moments
by azngirl123
Summary: Piper was seconds away from opening their apartment door when she realized her grave error. She paused and took a giant step back, now standing behind Annabeth. "You go first." "What?" "Uh, I'm scared," she couldn't help, but cringe. Percy owed her big time. AU. Compilation of One-Shots. Percabeth. Most recent: Surprise. Summary reflects most recent one-shot.
1. Toothbrush

**A/N: Initially, this was a one-shot called** ** _Toothbrush_** **, but I got so many ideas for other one-shots based on Percy and Annabeth's relationship that I decided to compile them into one story. Be on the look out for more one-shots added to this story! The status is complete, but one-shots will be continually added whenever I get ideas down.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from** _ **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**_ **series or the song "Toothbrush" by DNCE.**

 _Baby you don't have to rush_

 _You can leave a toothbrush_

 _At my place_

 _At my place_

 _We don't need to keep it hush_

 _You can leave a toothbrush_

 _At my place_

 _At my place_

Opening his closet, he pulled out his coat. He was meeting the group at a club downtown to celebrate the end of the semester before heading back home. By "the group", he was referring to Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo, Thalia and Nico. They were nearing the end of their college careers, starting their last semester, and were going out before the semester really started. As he was searching for his keys around the living room, he heard the buzzer ring.

"Move your butt, Kelp Face, we're late," he rolled his eyes as Thalia spoke through the speaker from downstairs.

"Coming," he replied as he ran out the door grabbing his wallet and keys along the way. Walking out of the building, he saw a cab at the curbside and could see the silhouettes of Annabeth and Thalia in the back. Sliding in to the seat next to Annabeth, he greeted the girls with a wave to Thalia and a kiss on Annabeth's cheek.

"Where's Jason?" his girlfriend of four years asked about his roommate.

"Who knows, probably already making out with Piper at the club," Thalia responded as they neared the club, but knowing the couple, Thalia probably wasn't far off from the truth.

The cab pulled up to the club and he opened the door for the ladies. Annabeth looped her arm in his as Thalia led the way into the club to find the others.

 _Stuck in a limbo_

 _Half hypnotized_

 _Each time I let you stay the night, stay the night_

After a few drinks, he felt someone pull at his shirt as he laughed at something Leo had said. Turning to his girlfriend, his questioning eyes met a pair of mischievous grays. He finished the last of his drink as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Let's dance, Seaweed Brain."

"Wise Girl, you know I don't dance."

"I know and I don't care." He rolled his eyes as she pulled him away from their friends.

"Whipped," he heard Nico cough and the rest of the group laugh. Scowling at his friends, he was about to say something in response, but the girl pulled him quickly into the crowd.

She pulled him onto the dance floor and turned so that her back was to his chest. Placing his hands on her hips, he leaned down and buried his face into the side of her neck, taking in the vanilla scent of her curls. He could feel the tension build between them as they danced to the rhythm. He struggled to keep his arousal at bay as her body moved against his. Her moves were hypnotizing and he had trouble keeping himself under control. Turning around in his arms to wrap hers around his neck, she leaned in close and whispered to him.

"Want to get out of here?" He groaned as she nipped at his ear.

"Your place or mine?" There wasn't even a nanosecond of hesitation in his response.

"Yours." He began to drag her towards the edge of the dance floor and waved to the table to let the others know that they were leaving. They laughed as the daughter of Athena was pulling him to the door. Outside in the cold air, he wrapped his arms around her as he hailed a cab. He gave the driver his address and pulled the blond into his side as they settled into the back of the cab.

 _Up in the morning_

 _Tangled in sheets_

 _We play the moment on repeat_

He woke up to the feeling of something snuggling into his chest. Looking down, he saw a mess of blond hair. Despite the tough persona she projected, she was quite the cuddler and he loved it. Their legs were tangled within the sheets and the duvet covered their bodies. He pulled her closer to him and leaned down to place a kiss on the crown of her head.

"I can feel your stare, creep," he heard her muffle against his chest. She raised her head to meet his eyes and he leaned down to give her a kiss.

He smiled, "It's not my fault that you're gorgeous." He saw her cheeks flush in the dim light shining from the moon outside and he let out a laugh.

"Wise Girl, we have been dating for four years, and you still blush," she rolled her eyes and tried to roll away from him.

Laughing, he pulled her back into his arms and placed a kiss behind her ear. He heard her giggle and it made him smile into the back of her neck.

"You still smile like a fool every time I laugh, Seaweed Brain, so you're not one to say much."

"You mean I smile when you _giggle_ , Wise Girl."

"I do _not_ giggle," he barked out a laugh as he rolled her under him.

"Yes, you do and it's the cutest sound ever. I always want to make you giggle." He kissed her soundly and she pulled his head away by his hair. Raising his eyebrows at her, he saw her roll her eyes. She rolled them over and straddled him.

"But, I can think of some other sounds I want you to make me make," she said as she leaned down to recapture his lips. Smiling into the kiss, he placed his hands on her hips. As the kiss deepened, he could only think to himself how he wanted to wake up to this everyday.

 _When you're standing there in your underwear_

 _And my t-shirt from the night before_

 _With your messed up hair_

 _And your feet still bare_

 _Would you mind closing the bedroom door?_

After their fun in the early hours of the morning, they both fell back asleep for a few more hours. He reached over as he woke for the day to pull her closer to him, but his hand met the empty cold bed beside him. Opening his eyes, he looked around for any signs of Annabeth.

"Want any coffee?" His eyes snapped to the doorway of the bedroom, where he saw her standing there in just her black panties and the blue shirt he wore to the club last night. She was leaning on the doorway and the way the sunlight struck her, all he could do was stare. Her gray eyes were looking at him and her blond hair was tied into a messy ponytail. His eyes traveled up and down, taking in her stunningly natural beauty. No matter how long he's known her, she always manages to take his breath away.

"Percy, eyes up here," he could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Close the door and come here," he reached for her and dragged her under the covers when she approached the edge of the bed. Rolling on top of her, he placed kisses down her neck as his hands slipped under the shirt. She chuckled and ran her hands into his hair, pulling his lips to hers.

 _Baby you don't have to rush_

 _You can leave a toothbrush_

 _At my place_

 _At my place_

 _We don't need to keep it hush_

 _You can leave a toothbrush_

 _At my place_

 _At my place_

 _Cause I just, I just can't let you go_

 _Give me something I never know_

 _So baby you don't have to rush_

 _You can leave a toothbrush_

 _At my place_

 _At my place_

"Okay, enough fooling around, I need to go home to do some work," she said as she pushed him off of her. Before she could roll out of bed, he wrapped her into his arms.

"No, don't leave," he muffled into her curls. Laughing, she smacked at his head as she pulled herself out of bed. He was the epitome of a cuddler and it didn't help that his girlfriend was almost irresistible. Okay, maybe more than almost, it was impossible for him to keep his hands off her.

He groaned as he sat up and watched Annabeth pull her pants up. She threw her shirt from the previous night into his hamper and pulled her coat over his shirt that she was still wearing.

"You know, at this rate, I'm going to be forced to either go shirtless or wear your tops if you keep stealing my T-shirts," he loved seeing her in his clothes, but there was a lot of truth to what he said. He's positive that she has stolen at least a dozen of his T-shirts and some of his sweatshirts, which is at least a quarter of his wardrobe, not including some of his boxers that she's stolen from him when he spent the night at her place and forced him to walk home commando since she refused to give him back his underwear and he enjoyed the look of her in his clothes too much to push for it.

She rolled her eyes as she leaned in to kiss him good-bye, "Shut up, Seaweed Brain. You love seeing me in your clothes."

"We could solve this if you moved in with me," the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could even process what he had said. He stared at her with a 'deer in the head lights' look as he grasped for words. Though they've been together for almost half a decade, they never broached the topic of moving in together. After moving out of the on-campus dormitories their sophomore year, they grew accustomed to living with their respective roommates. But, lately, this has been in the back of his mind for a while. He hated when she left and he wasn't kidding about the clothing situation. She had a good portion of her clothes here already, so it wouldn't be much different. In fact, it would make a lot of sense if they moved in together.

"I'll think about it," she pulled back with a smile on her face and walked out the door. Moving in together was a big step in their relationship, so her response was no surprise as being a daughter of Athena, she thought through everything. He had a small smile on his face as he lugged himself out of bed. He walked out in the main living area of his apartment and saw Jason and Piper curled up on the couch.

"Are you two shacking up anytime soon?" He blurted out the words before he even realized that he was speaking. The couple was startled by the sudden interruption and turned to him with questioning looks.

"Looking to get rid of me?" He rolled his eyes at the son of Jupiter.

"Sounds like someone is trying to kick you out to move a certain daughter of Athena in," Piper quipped and looked at him knowingly.

"To answer your question, we're considering it," Jason said.

"Have you mentioned that to Annabeth?"

"Of course, she's my roommate," Piper scoffed. That made him grin. Knowing Annabeth, if Piper had mentioned moving in with Jason, then it would only be logical for her to move in with him. She was just making him sweat.

 _No need to question next time we meet_

 _I know you're coming home with me, home with me_

 _Sweat like a sauna_

 _Break out the ice_

 _I know you're gonna stay the night, stay the night_

A bunch of them met up for dinner and as they parted ways, he and Annabeth made their way back to his apartment. They huddled close to each other as they fought against the wind.

"So, where are you on the whole 'moving in with me' thing?" He didn't want to push her, but this was something that has been on his mind for awhile now.

"Mmm, still thinking about it. I haven't talked to Pipes yet," it still wasn't a confirmed yes, but it was getting there and for now, he'll take it.

 _I don't want this to end_

 _And there's no need to play pretend_

 _If you stay with me again_

 _Would you mind closing the bedroom door?_

He woke up to an empty bed and the smell of bacon wafting in the air. Grinning, he pulled himself to the bathroom to take care of the morning necessities before making his way out to the main living area where he saw Jason lounging on the couch and Annabeth in the kitchen, manning the stove. Unsurprisingly, she had stolen yet another one of his shirts that engulfed her to the point where her sleep shorts were barely visible at the hem. He came up behind her and placed a kiss on her neck as he nuzzled into her.

"Good morning, Jason," he frowned as she teased him, pinching her side in retaliation.

"Very funny Wise Girl."

"Hey! I'd rather not die at the expense of a joke," she let out a laugh at Jason's exclamation and he couldn't help but grin. He has a notorious jealous streak and his usual peaceful demeanor is shattered when any man comes near his girl. With his lack of any kitchen skills, he knew better than to ask if she needed any help, knowing that one, she would refuse and two, if he even did help, he would make things worse.

"Stop nuzzling, you're distracting me and I'd rather not burn breakfast," she smacked his arm. He knew better to push it since true to her word, the last time he disobeyed, they ended up eating burnt bacon and toast with outlandishly overcooked eggs.

 _Baby you don't have to rush_

 _You can leave a toothbrush_

 _At my place_

 _At my place_

 _We don't need to keep it hush_

 _You can leave a toothbrush_

 _At my place_

 _At my place_

"Okay, Percy, let's do it."

Raising a brow at her, he responded, "We literally just did it. You've got to give me a couple minutes at least, babe."

She rolled her eyes at him, "No, Seaweed Brain, I meant, let's move in together."

He grinned at her as he pulled her into a kiss, holding her tight against him, and she laughed at his exuberance.

 **A/N: Taking suggestions so leave a review!**


	2. Kite Flying

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Percy Jackson series.**

"Honestly, what on earth possessed you to think that this was a good idea?" He could hear Annabeth berate him from below. He was currently up in a tree in the middle of Central Park, attempting to dislodge his kite from the branches. His mother had been watching the morning weekend news and there was an exposé on the influx of kite fliers in Central Park. As he watched, he was overcome with a sudden urge to join them. He had never flown a kite before and though he had a fear of doing anything air related since Zeus may or may not smite him, it truly looked like a lot of fun. He promptly ran out to buy a kite, one that was a blue, green sea turtle, and called Annabeth. He had failed to mention to her over the phone that his intent was for them to do some kite flying and lured Annabeth to the park under the pretense that they were going to have a picnic. Which, wasn't far from the truth since he did pack them a few sandwiches and some of his mother's blue chocolate chip cookies. When Annabeth arrived at the park, she saw her grinning boyfriend with a picnic basket in one hand and, much to her dismay, an enormous sea turtle kite in the other. After their lunch and much persuasion, they got the kite in the air, only for it to be swept by the wind into the nearest tree. And, that's how he found himself climbing a tree in the middle of Central Park.

He ignored her comment and continued to extract the turtle that had somehow entrapped itself in the dense foliage of the tall oak tree. He let out a loud whoop once he successfully dislodged it from the forsaken tree and started his way down. He had to be at least twenty five feet up in the air and he realized that climbing up was a lot easier than getting down. When his shirt got caught on a branch for the second time, he paused and stripped himself of the offending material, throwing it down to Annabeth.

"Percy! Why in Hades are you stripping in a tree?" Ignoring his girlfriend again, he focused on carefully placing his feet as he made his way down the large oak. As luck would have it, about ten feet above the ground, his foot slipped and he found himself hurtling to the ground.

"Oww, I hurt," he groaned as he got up and dusted himself off. He landed on his back, which would have been fine, if it weren't for the damn tree root that was particularly large and protruding from the ground.

"Seaweed Brain, now, you have scratches that are bleeding. Come on, let's go home so I can clean up your back."

* * *

The next weekend, he found himself in Montauk. His ever so generous mother and Paul allowed Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Reyna, and Nico to join their trip to the beach. They had arrived to the cabin and after everyone was settled, the group of demigods were about to make their way to the shore. Seeing no point to wear a shirt as he would just take it off when they reached the beach, a shirtless Percy joined the group that had congregated in the main living space.

"Finally, you took forever!" Leo exclaimed as he entered the room.

"Shut up, I was being the gracious host, showing everyone their place, so, of course, I'm last," he made his way to the front door to lead them to the beach, but stopped midway when he heard a gasp.

"Percy! Are those scratches on your back?" The dismay in Piper's voice was palpable and he almost got whiplash from turning around so quickly.

"Damn, Annabeth is an animal!" He could feel not only his face, but also his entire body just turn red and never has he ever wanted to deck Jason in the face as much as he did right now. Nico had the gall to wolf whistle and he mentally placed his dark spirited cousin on his list of those to hurt right after the blonde son of Jupiter.

"I...no. Maybe. Well, okay yes. But, not that! Yes, scratches. No, Annabeth. Tree," he sputtered like an idiot, looking at Annabeth for help, which, in any other situation would have been wise, but only made things worse as it added fuel to the fire. He failed to realize that by staring at Annabeth, it only bolstered the suspicions of what (or rather, in the perverted minds of his friends, who) were the source of said scratches. And, for maybe the first time in her life, the daughter of Athena was at a loss for words and only gaped at him.

"Yeah! No! He, we, tree...he fell..." Annabeth squeaked out. At any other time, he would have capitalized on this _very_ rare moment of absolute lack of eloquence for his usually composed girlfriend, but he was too busy trying to will his body from becoming any redder. The group laughed harder at the couple, some with obvious tears in their eyes.

"Perseus Jackson, do we need to have that talk again?" His head whipped to his mother, who he had completely forgotten was there. The tone of her voice was one of obvious teasing and the enormous smirk on her face did nothing to help his embarrassment. The demigods, with the exception of the couple at the butt of the joke, laughed even louder to the point where Leo was doubled over on the ground.

"Mom! No!" He took a deep breath before he continued, "I was in a tree. Getting a kite. My shirt kept getting caught. Then, I fell. Annabeth, help me here," he pleaded. He knows that he did a terrible job explaining himself, but at this point of mortification, that was as good as it was going to get.

"He got this great idea to go kite flying and flew it into a tree. Climbed up to get it out, took off his shirt halfway down since it kept getting caught, and because it's Percy, he fell out of the tree and landed on his back on a tree root," Annabeth explained with a bright red face, but commendably steady voice.

"Exactly, can we just go now?" He wanted to end this since he didn't think he could take any more embarrassment or else risk his sanity.

"Right, so how long did it take you to come up with that?" His wonderful girlfriend launched one of the decorative throw pillows at Jason's head as the others roared with laughter. As much as he loved his friends, he was about to kill every one of them. Violently.


	3. Getting Caught

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Percy Jackson series.**

"Percy, it's nearly noo- _Annabeth?_ "

" _Fuck!_ " He couldn't be bothered to censor himself as he pulled the sheet up to hide his girlfriend, who had let out a loud squeak and currently looked like she was trying to melt herself into his mattress.

Shit. The noise that had been slowly waking him up was the sound of knocking. More specifically, his mother's knocking. On his bedroom door. Where in said bedroom there was a bed in which he laid, but definitely not alone since a certain _naked_ daughter of Athena was very much under the covers with him.

He finally looked up to see the astonished look on his mother's face. In her hands, she held a laundry basket full of his clothes and gaped at him like a fish. If he weren't so mortified himself, he would have found the deep blush across his mother's cheeks amusing. But, too bad he was trying to will the ground to swallow him up to extract any semblance of amusement out of this situation.

"Get dressed. We're going to have a little talk in the living room," and with that his mother shut the door, leaving two very red faced demigods in her wake.

"Nope. Nope. I can't. No way. I can't believe that just happened. This is a dream. I'm going to wake up and none of this is real life. Nope. Not going to have a sex talk with my mother and girlfriend. Nope. I can't," he couldn't stop rambling as he buried himself deeper into the bed.

"What are the chances I can just slip out of your window and leave?" His head shot up and looked at her incredulously.

"What? You're going to leave me alone?"

"It's your mom! I'll get the cliffnotes of the lecture later."

"Hey! You were just as much a part of this as me!"

Before either of them could utter another argument, they heard his mom yell from the living room.

"Both of you stop arguing and come out or I'll come in right now," fearing the latter, the couple scrambled to get dressed. Once dressed, the couple came out and sat on the couch and his mother sat in the adjacent recliner. There was a moment of awkward silence before his mother rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You're both adults. I know I can't stop you and I won't." His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Rolling her eyes, his mom continued, "I'm not stupid, Percy. Even if I said no, you would continue anyways. I just want to make sure. Are you safe?" He nodded vigorously and his mother smiled.

"Good, I'm not surprised. Now, I'd rather not repeat this morning, so here are the rules: first, you have to tell me when Annabeth is over and second, no sex when I'm at home. Got it?" The couple nodded.

"Now that that's settled. Pancakes?"

 **A/N: Super short, but I thought it was cute. Review and leave suggestions!**


	4. Sweatshirt

**A/N: Just wanted to clarify that all of these one-shots are separate from one another.**

"Where in the name of Zeus is this sweatshirt?" A flash of lightning rippled through the sky. He rolled his eyes, "Sorry uncle Zeus."

His room had always been messy, but, as he tried to find his old Goode swim team sweatshirt, it looked like a F5 tornado tore through the bedroom. It has been years since he had been on the team, but the sweatshirt held a lot of meaning to him as he wore it to nearly all of the meets and due to the long time use, it became incredibly soft.

"Jason! Have you seen my sweatshirt?" His roommate stumbled into the bedroom at the call of his name. And, by stumbled, he _actually_ stumbled over the amount of crap that had piled in front of his bedroom door.

"What in the Hades happened in here?" All the drawers to his dresser were emptied and his bed was covered with clothing that was originally hanging in his closet.

"I can't find my sweatshirt," he replied from inside his closet.

"Maybe it's under one of these piles of clothes. When's the last time you saw it?" Jason said as he picked up a couple of T-shirts.

"Honestly, I have no idea. All I know right now is that it's not here," he gave up searching his room and made his way out into the living room. There was still no sign of it anywhere.

"I haven't seen it out here. Maybe you left it at your Mom's?"

"I knew I kept you around for a reason!"

"Screw you!" Jason called out at him as he ran out, grabbing his wallet and keys and headed to his mom's apartment.

* * *

He unlocked the door to his old apartment that he used to share with his mother and made a beeline for his old room. The room still had all his old furniture but now also functioned as a makeshift storage area as there were nearly piled boxes of old things that his mother had organized. Searching for boxes with his name, he resumed his hunt.

"Percy? Is that you sweetie?" He heard her call from the outer room.

"Mom! Have you seen my old swim team sweatshirt?" He continued to rummage into the disaster zone that overtook his old room. Damn it, it wasn't here. Where the Hades could it be?

"No, I haven't seen it. Don't you dare leave that room until you put everything back like it was!"

After repacking his mess, he wandered out to see his mother. "I swear that the sweatshirt just disappeared. I can't find it anywhere."

"Did you check at camp?" Of course! If it wasn't at his place or his mom's, Cabin Three was the only other option.

"Thanks mom!" Pecking her on the cheek, he made his way to camp.

* * *

Arriving at his cabin, he immediately began to tear it apart. As he was searching, he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" This was beyond frustrating. It wasn't that he even wanted to wear the damn sweatshirt; it was driving him crazy that he managed to misplace something that had actually had some kind of value to him.

"How's the quest?" He rolled his eyes at Jason's choice of words.

"Shut up, dude. It wasn't at home, wasn't at my mom's and it's not here. Wait, what are you even doing here?"

"Maybe you missed it, throwing all your crap everywhere. Chiron asked me to help with some stuff this weekend and he said that you just came in. So, I just wanted to let you know that dinner is about to be served if you want to head over with."

Nodding, he joined his friend and left the mess that he made behind him. But, really, where could the damn sweatshirt be? So, engrossed in his thoughts, he didn't hear Jason's attempt at getting his attention until he felt an elbow jab into his side.

"Ow! Abuse! What do you want?" Rubbing his side, he glared at his friend.

"I found your sweatshirt."

"What? Where?" His eyebrows furrowed at Jason. They were walking to the dining pavilion; how in the Hades did he find his sweatshirt?

"It's on Annabeth's back," Jason replied with an enormous grin and pointed to a blonde girl walking with other Athena campers ahead of them.

"You're kidding me," and sure enough, the daughter of Athena was clad in a very familiar navy sweatshirt that had his last name faded on the back of it. The sight of his girlfriend wearing something that had his name on it brought a swell of pride and a gigantic grin to his face. Shaking his head, he bid his friend farewell and ran up ahead to sneak up on his girlfriend. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he pecked her on the neck and greeted her, "hey there, Wise Girl."

"Look at what the cat dragged in. What are you doing here, Seaweed Brain?" She stopped walking and turned around in his arms.

"Hey there, Percy. We'll see you at the table, Annabeth," Malcolm said before leaving her behind and he waved to greet her half siblings. Turning back to his girlfriend, he pulled on the navy sweatshirt.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for this? When did you even take it?" he asked her as he tugged on the material. He was an idiot. He should have known that Annabeth would have had it. With her proclivity to steal some of his clothes, she should have been the first place to look.

She blushed, "you left it at my place a few weeks ago."

"Well, am I going to get it back anytime soon?" She laughed as she shook her head and broke away from his arms to resume her walk to the dining pavilion. Grinning, he watched her walk away and thought to himself that he wouldn't mind her keeping it. It looked better on her anyways.


	5. Gorgeous

**A/N: For reference since I doubt I'll be able to properly convey what I'm thinking Percy's transformation will look like, I'm going for the Zachary Quinto look on Percy in this one.**

 _Percy: I'm finally getting glasses._

 _Annabeth:_ _About time, Seaweed Brain._

She rolled her eyes at the message that popped up on her screen. Percy has been annoying her with all his complaining about his nearsightedness. She has been urging him for months to get his eyes checked, but being the seaweed brain that he is, he refused to listen to her and continued to complain.

 _Percy: Oh my gods, the world is so clear now._

She let out a loud laugh that caught Piper's attention as they sat in the amphitheater, watching the young kids start their training with Jason. Ignoring her questioning stare, she typed out a response.

 _Annabeth: I told you that you needed glasses. When are you getting here?_

 _Percy: I'll be there in about two hours._

Pleased that she'll be able to see her boyfriend for the first time in the past month due to their respective studies at neighboring schools as the semester wrapped up, she grinned and continued to text Percy until he arrived.

* * *

She couldn't form words. For the first time in her life, she was utterly and completely rendered speechless. She had received Percy's text to meet him by the Big House as he was just about to arrive and had to check in with Chiron before getting settled.

"Hey Wise Girl!" She was within a few yards from the porch of the Big House when Percy bounded out of the door and to her, calling her name. But as he got closer to her and the appearance of him became clear, she just stopped walking, not believing the sight in front of her. She must have looked ridiculous standing in the middle of the field with wide eyes and an open jaw.

He was wearing her favorite blue flannel shirt of his with a white T-shirt underneath and his usual black jeans. His hair still flopped in his eyes and it looked like he had the sides trimmed a bit. But, there were two distinct changes in his appearance that completely floored her. On his face sat a pair of black rimmed Wayfarer styled glasses that made his already stunning eyes stand out even more and above his upper lip, on the sides of his face, and around his chin there was a very light stubble. He looked hot _._ No, not hot, _sexy._ He was stop in your tracks, drop dead gorgeous.

This was completely new territory for her. She had always known that Percy was handsome in a cute, boyish way. She saw how much he changed in the eight years of knowing him. Heck, meeting at the young age of twelve, she had even seen him go through puberty. But, this was the first time in her life that she was so overwhelmed with how hot and handsome Percy, really any boy, looked.

When he finally reached her, he dropped his bag and took her in his arms. Pulling away from the hug, he kissed her and she wrapped an arm around his neck. Her free hand came to rest on the side of his face. When the need for oxygen became to much, they broke apart.

"Hi," she said breathily and stroked the side of his jaw. "So, this is new."

He looked a little embarrassed and began rambling, "well, I got caught up in studying and didn't have time to shave like usual, so this grew. It made me look like I was twenty and not sixteen so I kept it. But, I don't like the idea of a beard, so I've been keeping it as a stubble. But, if you don't like it, then I'll be totally okay with shav-"

"No! You're hot," she cut him off with a very uncharacteristic outburst. Her mind finally processed what she had said and she looked up at him with wide eyes and an enormous blush. She wanted the ground to swallow her up or maybe a truck to fall out of the sky and strike her. She couldn't believe that those words had left her mouth.

Percy looked at her, startled by her outburst. He smirked at her with the biggest smirk he has ever seen on his face. "Hot, huh? So, I guess you're okay with me keeping this look."

"Yeah," and she pulled him back in for a kiss by the edge of his open flannel. She knew that she was going to have a tough time keeping her hands off of him and she was so unprepared for the embarrassment that will assuredly ensue as a result of this.

"Okay, maybe we shouldn't start making out in the middle of camp," he broke apart from her and grabbed his duffle and her hand to make his way down to Cabin Three.

She saw how many stares that her boyfriend's new look was garnering. Of course, Percy was completely oblivious to the new attention and spent the walk greeting some of the campers. Her possessive nature took over when a group of girls passed by, staring blatantly at him, so, she pulled him closer and wrapped an arm around his waist. Slightly startled by the sudden change, Percy looked down at her and didn't say anything, but placed his arm around her shoulders.

" _Percy!?_ " She immediately recognized Piper's voice. The couple stopped walking and saw Piper and Jason approaching them.

"Hey guys! How's it going?" Percy let go of Annabeth to hug the both of them.

"Dude, you look different," Jason commented while Piper stared at Annabeth with wide eyes.

"Yeah, the stubble makes me look like I'm actually an adult and well, the glasses are pretty helpful."

"Hey, Annabeth, mind if we go finish that thing we were working on earlier?" She looked at Piper with a confused look and only received a meaningful stare from the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Okay, yeah, sure," turning to her boyfriend, she gave him a kiss, "I'll see you later?"

"I've got to unpack all my stuff, so I'll meet up with you after," and Piper dragged her by the hand into the Athena cabin and to her bunk.

"Holy Hades! You didn't tell me that Percy became a male model!"

"Dear Zeus, he looks like that, doesn't he? I swear I had no idea he changed. We haven't been able to see each other in a month. Gods, Piper! You have no idea how stupid I looked when I first saw him. Ugh, I'm literally reduced to a blubbering mess around him!" She fell back onto her bunk, covering her face. It was so unfair how attractive her boyfriend was.

"Oh boo-hoo, your boyfriend is gorgeous," she could actually hear the smirk in Piper's voice. Glaring at her, she threw her pillow at the brunette and heard only laughter in response.

Gods, she really needed to get her hormones under control.

* * *

 **A/N: Review and leave any suggestions for a new one-shot!**


	6. Sweater

**A/N: AU where Percy and Annabeth haven't met…yet.**

"Hey ma!" Percy yelled as he walked into the bakery. His mom opened a bakery a few years ago after her divorce with Gabe and since then, she's been so much happier. Her signature blue chocolate cookies have been a huge success along with the other baked goods, such as cupcakes, breads, and cakes. He's worked there since the grand opening, continuing even in college now as he picked up shifts after classes and on the weekend. His best friend Jason also got a job working the front and his cousin, Nico, soon followed after. However, the shier, younger boy preferred working in the back with his mom baking all of the goods, leaving him and Jason to work the front most of the time.

It started out as a fairly typical Saturday morning. Several of the regulars came in for the usual orders and he and Jason charmed the heck out of the little kids, who came in with their parents. His mother once told him that it helped to have two boyishly charming men working the front of the bakery. The morning was a blur of faces as he filled orders and wiped down tables. After years of working together, he and Jason were a great team, keeping the flow of customers steady without a hitch. They finally got a little break after noon as the traffic lessened.

He grabbed a rag and asked Jason, "so how's it going with Piper now that you finally asked her out?" Piper was a girl who came in months ago and he noticed that Jason was immediately enamored by the brunette beauty.

Jason smiled at the thought of his girlfriend and replied, "really good. It's going really good."

"Dude, you're so whipped," he snickered. Jason was so love struck.

"It's only because you haven't found the right one yet," his friend retorted. Rolling his eyes, he resumed wiping down the main counter.

Hearing the bell of the door ring, he went to welcome the customer and that's when he saw her. She was gorgeous in the best way possible. None of that awful fake make-up and up-do, but a natural beauty. She was entranced by the variety of baked goods in the case, giving him a chance to look at her more without being caught.

"Hi, what can I get you today?" He couldn't help but notice how stunning her eyes were when she approached the counter. They were a shade of gray that he's never seen before and he found himself blankly staring at her. He then realized that she was mouthing words at him and all he was doing was blinking back at her idiotically.

"Um, sorry, what did you say?" _Great, she probably thinks I'm an idiot._

"I'll take a slice of the lemon cake for here and a loaf of the sour dough to go," judging by the grin on her face, she was amused at his lack of focus and probably very obvious staring.

"Sure thing, it'll be $9.50 and I'll have that right out to you." She handed him her credit card and he was beyond happy that he saw her name on the card. _Annabeth Chase, beautiful name that suits a beautiful girl._

"Thanks, that's really sweet of you," he whipped his head up from where he was swiping her card. _Shit, did I say that aloud?_ He briefly gaped at her as he tried to hide his embarrassment, but the blush on his cheeks was impossible to cover.

"Um, uh, of course. Here's your receipt," he stuttered. _Smooth, you moron._

"Thanks, Percy," he grinned at how she said his name. She smiled back at him and walked over to one of the tables in the corner. He's never loved having his name tag more. He grabbed the order for her and walked to the table that she was reading at. Taking a deep breath and praying to all the gods up there that he didn't embarrass himself any further, he approached her.

"Here you go, Annabeth. Let me know if you need anything else." _Score, no stuttering,_ he thought, giving himself a mental pat on the back.

"Thanks, Percy." They shared, what he would described, as another little moment before walking away. _Dear Lord, I'm turning into Jason._

He continued to work the front, always glancing at the blond as she enjoyed the cake. Jason gave him a pointed look and mouthed the words _told you so_ _._ He glared at his friend, resisting the urge to flip him off, before welcoming the customer that had just walked through the door. The slow work resumed as usual and he noticed even more about the blond. She was reading a textbook that had a bunch of buildings on the cover and her hair were twirled into princess curls. His thoughts were interrupted when a voice rang out.

"Percy! I need you back here!" he heard his mother call him from the back. He spared a last glance at the blond before walking into the kitchen.

"I need you to finish frosting this little girl's cake. I have to take an order on the phone and finish up some paperwork." His mother handed him the spatula and bowl of pink icing. For someone with ADHD, he was actually pretty good with frosting. After years of practice, he could quickly frost a cake and ice cupcakes without much thought. Since he wasn't much of a creative thinker, he left the decorating to his mom. An unknown amount of time had passed and he was almost finished with frosting the multi-tiered cake when he was interrupted.

"Percy! Your girl left her sweater!" Jason exclaimed from the front.

"What?" He turned around quickly, but collided into something before he could move any further.

"Dude!" He heard Nico exclaim as an enormous cloud of flour covered him. He had apparently collided with the younger boy, who was carrying a big bowl of flour to use to mix a new batch of bread dough. Not only did the collision create the flour cloud, but also it sent Percy's icing spatula into his chest, slathering a mark of bright pink icing onto his dark blue shirt.

"I'll help clean when I get back!" and with that he threw the spatula onto the table and ran out.

"Which way?" he said when he exited the kitchen and grabbed the gray sweater that was left on the chair.

"Left and when you see…what the hell happened back there?" Ignoring his best friend's question, he sprinted out the door.

Due to his six-foot height, he was able to see over most of the heads on the fairly busy New York street. He spotted the familiar blond head about fifteen yards ahead of him. Weaving his way through the pedestrian traffic and throwing out _excuse me_ and _pardon me_ as much as he could, he tried to catch up to the blond. He was within a few feet when he encountered an obstacle. There was a man bent down with a small gap between him and the building and a large family very slowly ambling behind him. Making a quick decision, he slid between the man and the building. As he passed the man, he felt a wet swipe on his cheek and heard a loud _Hey!_ as he sprinted past. _Of course_ , he thought to himself. He had the luck to pass by someone right as he was standing up to resume painting. Ignoring the paint, he continued his mission. The blond was about to turn a corner when he called out to her.

"Annabeth!" She turned around with wide eyes. She was obviously taking in his appearance and he couldn't imagine how he must have looked standing there covered in flour, pink icing slathered across his shirt and paint swiped on his cheek.

"You, uh, forgot your sweater," he managed to say as he heaved in air.

She gave him a smile that made him a little weak in the knees and said, "thanks; looks like it was an adventure to get this to me."

Rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, he replied, "um, yeah, I wanted to get it back to you and I wasn't sure if I would see you again." He internally cringed at his choice of words and a blush began to spread on his cheeks. Her smile grew as she wiped some of the flour off of his cheek that lacked the paint. She got up on her tiptoes, laid a hand on his chest, and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"I really appreciate it, Percy. I'll see you later." She remembered his name and he _almost_ sighed out loud. He didn't trust himself to speak, so he lamely waved back at her before she turned to continue her walk. He watched her walk away with a stupid grin on his face that grew even wider when she turned around and winked at him. _I need to see her again,_ he thought to himself as he lost sight of her. Nothing could wipe the smile off his face when he got back. Not Nico's glare as he picked up a rag to help clean up the mess or Jason's taunts at his obvious infatuation.


	7. Freedom

**A/N: All of the one-shots to this point have been light and funny, but I've been wanting to do more of an angsty one. Let me know what you think of it! I pulled the lyrics from "Freedom feat. Kendrick Lamar" by Beyoncé. I understand that the song is essentially an anthem for African American and woman empowerment, but I also thought that some of the lyrics resonated with the story so I wanted to use snippets to not only help delineate the different moments throughout this one shot, but also keep the story cohesive and flowing.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Percy Jackson series and the lyrics used are from Beyoncé's "Freedom feat. Kendrick Lamar".**

* * *

 _"Freedom!_ _Freedom! I can't move. Freedom, cut me loose!"_

* * *

Suffocating. That's how she's felt for the past few months. With the added pressures of her course load as graduation neared and the piling amount of work at her internship, she was beginning to feel like she's drowning in everything around her. Suffocating from all the things in her life. Including, her relationship.

It started slowly. They had moved in together after their first year and life was amazing. She was excelling in her academics and at her internship at the local architecture firm while Percy managed to keep his grades afloat as he pursued his own degree in marine biology. But, within the last few months, things between them had become tense and she hates to say it, but it's mostly her fault. She's become so engrossed in her work at school and at the firm that she's put her relationship on the back burner, much to Percy's dismay. Dates became few and far between, despite Percy's attempts to organize dates at least once a week. Fights became more constant. It wasn't about little minute things in their life that was more like bantering, but now, these were full on fights. All of them were essentially the same. Percy would complain that she was spending too much time at work and that she was ignoring him. She would refute that he was selfish and didn't understand how important her work is and how demanding it is to maintain the internship she has.

Yet again, here they were fighting about the same damn thing. _Again_.

"How the hell is it too much to ask that you come home at a reasonable time to go to dinner with me? Annabeth, I'm your fucking boyfriend. Not a play thing you just use when you have nothing else to do!" They were standing across from each other in the living room, yelling at one another since she got home.

"I can't when I have this huge project! I already told you Percy! Don't you dare talk to me like that when you know better!"

"Do I? The past few months have proven differently." He folded his arms across his chest and an eerie silence settled between them as they just stared at each other. Suffocation. She felt suffocation from the air, the tension between them, the pressure of doing everything and she has this overwhelming urge to leave because she just can't handle this right now.

She looked at him and slowly said, "we need to take a break."

He clearly didn't understand what she meant as he moved to grab his coat. "Yeah, I agree. Come on, let's go and walk around the block or something. Get some fresh air."

"No, Percy, I mean a break _from us._ " This obviously startled him as he dropped his wallet and whipped around to face her.

" _What?_ " His voice was strained and seconds from cracking.

"I'm suffocating! From everything! It's all too much and I just need a little bit of _freedom_ ," she was throwing her hands up, giving in to the mounting pressure that was determined to break her. She doesn't know if she's thinking all that coherently, but that doesn't stop the words from flowing out of her mouth. "School, work, _you_. It's too much and I need to be cut loose so that I can just breathe." Deep down, she knew that this was completely unfair to Percy. He was paying for the stress she was enduring academically and job wise. But, those weren't things that she could easily maneuver around in her life. Out of all the things in her life demanding her time and attention, she concluded that Percy was the easiest. She just wanted a break. Room to breathe. That's all she wanted.

The look on his face broke her heart in half because she's _never_ seen him cry. Ever. But, now, he stood in front of her with tears welling in his eyes and she is thrown into panic mode.

"It's just a break. Percy, a break," she's hoping that her words does something to alleviate his pain, but she knew that nothing could ease the pain he was feeling.

"A break?" He whispered into the silence. "Fine, I'll give you a break."

He walked out without another single word to her and her heart ached. Almost robotically, she grabbed a suitcase and began packing her items. This is what she thought she wanted, what she needed. A break from him. But, gods, she wasn't anticipating the wealth of pain that was surging throughout her body.

* * *

 _"Lord, forgive me; I've been running, running blind in truth."_

* * *

It had been six months since that fight. The fight that ended their relationship. Since then, she avoided Percy like the plague because she knew that she couldn't handle seeing him. For days after their breakup, he left dozens of missed calls on her phone and countless messages and voicemails. Piper told him where she was staying and he would come by her hotel room and bang on the door, begging her to talk to him, but she remained silent, her pride and stubborn nature winning out. He left bouquets of white lilies at the door with a note in each. She thought that what they were doing was right. They'd grown accustomed to just being around each other and it was beginning to become too much. But, that didn't mean that the messages were any easier to read.

 _Annabeth, please, I'm sorry._

 _Wise Girl, come back home. Talk to me, please._

 _Freedom? Fine, I can fucking give you freedom. See if I care._

 _Look, I'm sorry. I was in a bad mood and didn't think before sending that last message. Babe, come home so we can talk._

The messages were a constant for two weeks and then, they just stopped. The last message is forever imprinted in her mind and with that, she hasn't heard from him since.

 _Okay, I get it. I'll see you around._

It fucking hurt to not have Percy with her. She missed him. She couldn't sleep alone, so she went countless nights with minimal sleep. She missed the jokes, his playful humor that kept a light, happy atmosphere around her. She missed everything about him. But, her hubris and determination to prove that she was right outweighed the aches in her heart.

Then, here he was, suddenly within a few feet of her, but not coming any closer. Everyone was at Piper's and Jason's home, celebrating Jason's birthday. Though her friendship with Jason had been strained since the breakup, she was still close with Piper. She spotted him through the kitchen, laughing at something Leo had said. Gods, he looked good. She almost forgot how gorgeous he looked and after not seeing him for six months, it's like her attraction to him magnified ten fold. After all this time of avoiding him, she was too hesitant to approach him and he didn't look like he would be talking to her anytime soon. So, for most of the night, they did an awkward dance of avoiding one another, always managing to be in separate rooms, but she still kept an eye on him throughout the night.

It had only been a few hours since the party started that she noticed he was bidding goodbye to all of those around him. She was confused though. The goodbyes were more than a simple wave or hug. She watched as Percy and Frank, who rarely engaged in physical contact, hug and shake hands. Hazel was next and hugged Percy, whispering unknown words into his ear.

She was completely ignoring what Piper had been talking to her about and interrupted the brunette. "Where is Percy going?"

Hesitation flickered in Piper's eyes as she paused before saying, "Annabeth, he's leaving."

She missed the solemn tone resonating throughout Piper's voice. She's too busy watching him walk away to fully comprehend what her friend was saying. "Yeah, I can see that, but it's early. Where's he going?" She knew she had no right to ask. She gave up that right long ago, but her curiosity outweighs. She's pulled out of her reverie when Piper tugged slightly on her hand, bringing her back to the conversation.

"No, Annabeth, he's _leaving._ As in, he's leaving for London tomorrow morning," the look in the brunette's eyes told her how serious she was. "I didn't tell you the complete truth about tonight because I wanted him to tell you...but he obviously didn't. Yeah, it's a birthday party for Jase, but...the second reason, the more important underlying reason for this party was a _goodbye_ party for Percy. He's moving to London. I'm so sorry."

There's a flash of anger coursing through her body that was directed at the daughter of Aphrodite for not telling her, but she understood her reasoning. Being the daughter of Aphrodite, Piper was a romantic at heart and was giving Percy the opportunity to tell her himself to give them a chance of reuniting. She knew her best friend well enough to know this to be true.

 _Wait._ Percy was leaving, and by the sound of it, for good. Suddenly, she can't breathe and she swears that her heart stopped beating. She can't even form a coherent thought as she watches the raven haired man away from her, away from _them._ She can't even keep herself standing. She pitches forward and clutches at Piper's shoulders. Piper immediately wraps her arms around her and rubs soothing circles on her back. Tears begin to blur her vision and she's breathing heavily because the devastating magnitude of this event is hitting her. He's not leaving New York. He's leaving _her_. She can't imagine a life without him. It's impossible. She wants to slap herself because she realizes how much she took advantage of him like a semi truck slamming into a brick wall. He was always a constant present in her life and gods, she took advantage of the fact that he was always there for her, day and night, no matter when it was. Never in a million lifetimes did she think he would leave her. It was completely incomprehensible to her sense of what's right. But, she was wrong. _Gods,_ she was _so_ wrong. She pushed him to his limits and she couldn't blame him for leaving. But, that doesn't mean she wants him to go because if he goes, she doesn't know what she'll do.

"Piper, he can't be," _leaving me_. The words were implied and she knew that Piper was also aware. She saw the pity in her friend's eyes and she hated it.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry, but he's leaving in less than twelve hours. He's been planning this for two months now." Hearing this, she can't retain the anger she felt in this situation and aimed it at Piper.

Pushing herself away from her friend, she yelled, "why didn't anybody tell me?"

"Because, _you_ have absolutely no right to know anything anymore," a voice rang out behind her. She turned around to find herself face to face with Jason. "You broke up with him. You said you wanted a little space, a little break, a little _freedom._ You _destroyed_ him. If anybody was going to tell you, then it would be Percy choosing to tell you himself. Not anyone else."

"Jason!" Piper scolded her boyfriend. But, Annabeth couldn't blame him. Percy and Jason were so close that they might as well be brothers. She knew that when she broke up with Percy that she also lost Jason as a close friend. He didn't go out of his way to hide the fact that he resented her for causing his friend pain. This had been the most he's spoken to her since the breakup and she couldn't help but hear the underlying tinge of malice in his voice as he spoke to her.

"I have to talk to him." She was about to follow Percy when a hand caught her elbow.

"No, you sure as hell are not because there's no fucking way I'm letting you. You've done enough and you have no idea what it was like picking up the pieces you left behind. He's finally okay now."

"Piper, tell your boyfriend to let go of me before I kick his ass," she grunted as she tries to pull away from the son of Jupiter.

"Jason, let go of her and, Annabeth, you're not going anywhere."

"What?" She reared at her friend. Piper had a hardened look on her face that surprised her and the bitter feeling of betrayal seeped into her.

"Annabeth, you know I love you and that you're my best friend. But, I have to agree with Jason. It's not a good idea to talk to him, especially now." She couldn't help but be hurt by Piper's words. Though she knew deep down that there was truth to her words, she couldn't help but feel affronted by her friend's actions.

"Pipes..."

But, before she could say anything else, Piper interrupted her, "Annabeth! You know Jason is right." She could see the sorrow in her friend's eyes. The sorrow she held for her. "You know I want you and him to get back together. After all, I am a daughter of Aphrodite and my mother is correct when she says that your love story is the best of this century. But, Annabeth, he's been a wreck for months and he's moving across the world _tomorrow_. Talking to you...would just mess him up too much and it's not good timing. You should be talking to him because of how you feel, not because he's leaving."

She was about to protest, but looking back, Percy was already gone. Despite her friends attempts, she wasn't going to be giving up that easily.

* * *

 _"I'm telling these tears, 'go and fall away, fall away'. May the last one burn into flames."_

* * *

Looking in front of her, a flash of memories ran through her mind as she took in the small details in the door that used to open to her home. She was standing in front of the door to her old apartment. The apartment she used to share with the man she so desperately loves. She saw the day they first checked out the apartment building and remembered how happy and giddy they were to move in together. She saw the day they moved in and remembered how adorable Percy was when he insisted that he carry her bridal style over through the door even though they were just moving in. _"Oh, come on, Wise Girl. It's a new chapter! Plus, I want to make sure you're heading straight towards the bedroom to properly christen this place."_ The way he wiggled his eyebrows at her that day had set her into a fit of giggles and she misses the way things were always a little more fun with him around. The memories they shared here rush back and it makes her feel even more desperate to salvage their relationship.

Summoning up all the courage that she could muster, she knocked on the wooden door.

"Guys! Go back to the party! I told you I got this!" She heard from inside the apartment. Her breathing became labored as his footsteps approach the door because this will be the first time in six months that she'll talk to him. The bolt lock was turning and she could hear his chuckling, which only served to send her stomach tumbling.

"You know, I totally... _Annabeth?_ " She looked up at him and saw the astonished face. It's the first time in a long while that she saw him up close and gods, it was unfair how attractive he is.

"Um, hey, Seaweed Brain," not only did she internally cringe at the use of old nickname, but also Percy very externally winced at it.

"Hey...what are you doing here?" She can almost see him building his walls up to shield himself from any potential hurt that _she_ might cause him and the thought of that brought an infinite amount of guilt onto her shoulders.

Taking a big, deep breath, she said, "I heard you were moving."

His eyebrows furrowed at this. She can tell that he's trying to figure out why after all this time, she decided to pop up on his doorstep the night before he moves to a different continent, across the ocean. She watched in bated breath as he determined what the best way to respond is. And, to say the least, his response shocked her.

"I'm not going to talk about this with you," he tried to shut the door on her, but she stuck her foot in the doorway, keeping it open.

" _Just give me a chance_ ," she pleaded. This seemed to send him over the edge as he reopened the door and held a scathing look on his face.

"Why should I? You never gave me one!" His outburst stunned her. She didn't have a response to him that made either of them feel better because she knows that he's right. Whatever walls he built up crumbled and she caught a glimpse of the broken man she's left behind and the sight tore at her heart as tears welled in her eyes. There's a moment of silence before he resumed speaking.

"Annabeth, you know I don't play the mean guy well. I'm sorry for that outburst." Gods, he's so amazing. Here she was, the one completely at fault, and yet he was apologizing.

"I'm finally letting you go," he softly said as he stepped forward, his hand cupping her face, thumb caressing her cheek. "We both said a lot of things we didn't mean. We hurt each other and I didn't want to let you go. I've forgiven you long ago, Annabeth, and now, I only want one thing. I want you to be happy even if that means breaking my heart and letting you go. Cliché as it may be, but if you truly love someone, you set them free and all I've done is hold you back. I get it now. I'm letting you go. I'm giving you what you want and I promise you that I won't be bothering you any longer. You made it pretty clear what you want and I love you enough to give it to you. It's for the best. For both of us. You said you wanted freedom and well, I'm cutting you loose." He tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace as if his heart is withering as he speaks and knowing him, that probably wasn't far from the truth. She knows him well enough that the speech wasn't just for her benefit as the words he spoke was his own attempt at fortifying his resolve, convincing himself that this was something he wanted to. Not just something he thought she wanted. It sounded so much like he was throwing her words back in her face, but she knew he was too good of a person to intentionally do something like that maliciously.

She tried to reply, but her voice is caught in her throat. _No._ This isn't what she wanted. She doesn't care what she said before. The break that she thought she so desperately wanted had torn her to shreds and if it weren't for her gods forsaken pride, she would have been on his doorstep, begging him to take her back, the minute the request left her mouth. But, that wasn't reality. Reality was that she let her pride win out. She was a daughter of Athena, not Aphrodite, so she walked away and even worse, stayed away. Right now, standing in front of him, the resignation in his voice and on his face is killing her because it means that he's given up on her, on them. He fought tooth and nail to keep them together, but she pushed him too far. His fatal flaw, his fierce loyalty, kept them together while hers drove them apart.

"Percy, _don't_. No, this isn't what I want. Don't leave me, please," she said with desperation leaking into her voice. She's too far gone to be embarrassed about begging. She's pulling on his free hand, cupping hers to cover his on her cheek. She can't let this man walk out of her life. Not again.

She's shocked to see him shaking his head and smiling at her sadly. He's rubbing the hand that he holds in his and she could see the tears that are glistening in his eyes, threatening to fall in just a blink. "We've had this fight too many times," he pauses as he bit on his lower lip, a clear sign of hesitation, but it's only brief. "Annabeth, this is just a knee jerk reaction. We've known each other for a decade, been together for six of those years. I'm not oblivious and I can't keep putting myself through the wringer. You're only saying this because I'm leaving. But, this is the closure that we need. I've worn my heart on my sleeve for far too long and nothing has changed. Annabeth, I can't. It's not fair to either of us. This isn't just for you. This move... I need it too. That way, we'll both finally be able to move on with our lives and...without each other."

 _Without each other_. The words rang in her head as she tried her hardest to keep her aching heart from sinking. She knows him well enough to read him like an open book and she hates what she saw. The acceptance in him told her that there's nothing to change his mind. She's gone too far and there's no turning back. She pushed him to the precipice of his patiences; she tested his determination. She thought she knew what she wanted, but in this very moment, the stark realization of how wrong she was strikes her and it hurts. And, dear gods, she has never hated herself more than in this moment. She had a loving man in her life that did everything for her, even sacrificing his own heart to bring her happiness. She had something that everyone wanted in their lives. She had someone who loved her unrelentingly, infinitely, passionately. And, gods, she loves him back.

He smiled at her and it felt like the last time she'll ever see him smile at her. He's pulling away, stepping back away from her, and she immediately misses the warmth. "Thank you, Annabeth. For the friendship, the laughs, the memories, the love, for everything." He's obviously conflicted, but whatever hesitance he had disappears as he steps forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Goodbye, Wise Girl."

She grabbed his bicep before he can completely step back from her. "Percy, please, don't." She can't manage any more words at because she's trying to keep herself from becoming a sobbing mess. This felt like a final goodbye and she's smart enough to know, but too stubborn to admit, that this _was_ the final goodbye between them. If she lets him walk away from her, he's not coming back and she can't let that happen.

He shook his head and gave her a tight lipped smile. She can see the resolution in his face and knew that she lost. Lost whatever semblance of a chance there was to get him back. Lost the relationship they had. Lost her best friend. Lost _him_. "I'm sorry. Goodbye, Annabeth."

He closed the door on her and she's too stunned to move. He wasn't just shutting the door on her. He was shutting the proverbial door on whatever remnants of their relationship was left. Numbly, she left and found her way to her car. When she closed her car door and glanced up at the window to her old apartment, the dam inside of her that's been keeping her together broke free. She's outright sobbing; her head falling to the steering wheel. Heart clenching, gut wrenching sobs rack through her body because that was it. She screwed up so badly and there looked like there was no way she could fix the mess she made. She was so wrong on what she wanted and now, there didn't look like there was a single chance in Hades that she'll be able to get back what she wanted.

* * *

 _"Hey! I'ma keep running cause a winner don't quit on themselves."_

* * *

Ambling down the cobblestone road, she took in her surroundings. Greenwich was nothing like New York City. The quaint neighborhood in London had a historic atmosphere to it and she loved the old architecture of the townhouses on the road. Despite the distracting sights around her, she had one destination in mind. She continued walking down the road until she reached her desired destination. It was an old apartment complex with balconies that overlooked the city and had river views. It wasn't the ocean, but it was close enough. She entered the building a searched for the number that was imprinted in her mind. _5A._ As she approached the door, her stomach began summersaulting, the nerves throughout her body began to feel on fire as she tried to fruitlessly calm herself.

Facing the door, her mind flashed back to three months ago when she saw him before he left. Their breakup was approaching its one year anniversary and that's an anniversary she doesn't ever want to celebrate. She went three long months trying her hardest to eradicate the thought of Percy Jackson from her mind, but it was a lost cause. She was totally and completely, irrevocably in love with the man she left behind.

The man that _she_ left behind. Gods, she had beaten herself up so much about what she had done that Jason was beginning to show sympathy and pity for her because he recognized that she had finally come to realize the consequences of what had happened so long ago. She got updates about him from Piper and the daughter of Aphrodite wasn't above giving Annabeth information on his dating life. Because of that, it wasn't hard to persuade Piper to give Annabeth his address and swear to keep her visit a secret from everyone.

Taking a deep breath, she brought her fist up and knocked on the door, resisting the urge to run the other way. She heard footsteps approach the door and this was too much like the last time she saw him. She tried to not think to much about how the previous encountered had ended and instead focused on what she wanted to say. Unsurprisingly, she planned a speech. Hell, she had seven hour plane ride to think about how she was going to talk her way back into his life again; it was hard not to come up with a speech. The deadbolt lock was turning and she mentally tried to steel herself against the flood of emotions.

" _Annabeth?_ " If it were any other time, she would laugh at how incredulous he was. Instead, she was too busy avoiding direct eye contact and fiddling with her hands.

"I don't want you to be the one who got away," she tried to bring herself to look at him, but she was too scared of his reaction. Her greeting was met with silence and she could hear her heart thudding against her chest. Suddenly, there was a hand cupping her cheek, bringing her to look at him directly.

"Can you at least look at me?" His voice was soft and it took her off guard. She was expecting anger especially after all she had put him through.

Looking at him, directly into the sea green eyes that she fell in love with long ago, she couldn't restrain herself any longer. It had been too long. She grabbed him by the collar and slammed her lips to his, kissing him. Gods, it had been eons since they last kissed and she tried to pour all her emotions into it. The love she felt for him. The regret she felt for what she had done. The passion she had for their relationship. Tears streaked down her face and intermingled in their kiss, but she suspected that maybe the tears weren't just hers. She kissed him until they were both breathless.

Whatever she had planned left her mind. She couldn't think straight and realized that she wasn't below desperate begging. "I love you so fucking much, Percy Jackson. I'm so sorry. For all the fight. For all the hurt and pain. For breaking us. For being to stubborn. For _everything._ Please take me back. I want - no - _need_ us to be okay again. For us to be _us._ Please, Percy, can you forgive me?"

Maybe it was because she never cursed. Maybe it was because he knew that for her to admit these things to him meant that not only did she really mean these words, but also she was beyond desperate. Maybe it was the fact that she basically jumped him when she looked at him for the first time in what felt like years. Maybe it was because he missed her too. But, it didn't matter to her. Not right now.

Because, he pulled her back to him, wrapping his arms around her and pinning her to the now closed door. She had her answer. What mattered was being back in his arms and being home again. This. This was _freedom._

* * *

 _"I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade."_


	8. Territorial

She always had an inkling that she was a fairly territorial person. Hell, her favorite activity at camp was capture the flag, which was basically a territory war. She hated when her siblings messed with her things on her bunk and she couldn't stand it if anyone touched anything on her desk.

But, she didn't expect her territorial nature to extend to a certain seaweed brain. That was until she walked into the sword fighting arena.

She knew that Percy was teaching a beginner's swordsman class this morning and wanted to stop by to say good morning before it started. As she entered into the arena, she saw Piper standing at the edges.

"Morning Piper!"

"Annabeth, hey, what brings you here this lovely morning?" Piper had a huge grin on her face and a mischievous glint in her eyes that concerned her. She furrowed her eyebrows at the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Wanted to see Percy before his class...why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, we got a new camper this morning and I think she's getting herself acquainted with our resident hero of Olympus," she pointed to the center of the arena where Percy and a blonde stood a little closer than she was comfortable with.

Squinting her eyes, she asked, "who in the Hades is she?"

If she had been looking at Piper instead of intently staring out to the center, she would have seen Piper's obvious amusement as she answered, "that's Casey and I'm pretty sure she's one of my siblings though that's yet to be proven...Annabeth, where are you going?"

She didn't stick around for Piper's finished answer. The impetus for the sudden departure? That blonde bitch ran her hand through Percy's hair. Which is something that only _she_ can do. She stalked up to the duo and as she approached, she saw the obvious discomfort on her boyfriend's face. Unfortunately, knowing that he's too nice of a guy, he tried to discreetly shuffle away from the newcomer slowly and continued to politely engage her in conversation. His face lit up as she came closer, but soon fell as he recognized the obvious angered state she was in. At that exact moment, the annoying girl placed a hand on Percy's bicep and Annabeth saw red.

When she reached them, she wordlessly shoved the girl to the side and pulled her boyfriend to her by gripping the front of his T-shirt in both of her hands. She slammed her lips against his before he could say a word. She heard a whoop in the background that had to have been from a certain son of Hephaestus, but she focused on the boy in front of her. The kiss left the couple breathless and Percy was clearly out of sorts. His eyes were wild and pupils were dilated, indications that he was very affected by the kiss and she took pride in the fact that she could do this to him.

"Wanted to stop by and say morning," she pulled him back in for another kiss before turning around and shooting a meaningful glare at the new camper.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met yet," she stuck her hand out to greet the frozen girl.

"Um, yeah, I'm new. My name is Casey," the girl shook her hand and winced at Annabeth's grip.

"Welcome to camp. I see that you've met my _boyfriend_ ," stressing the word.

"Yeah, Percy was just talking to me about sword fighting before class started."

"Right, I guess I'll see you around," before leaving she turned back to her boyfriend. "I'll let you get started with class so I'll see you later, babe," she kissed his cheek and left the stunned boy and frightened girl behind.

* * *

After the little scene in the arena, she left to blow off some steam and hadn't seen her boyfriend since. Knocking and opening the door the Poseidon's Cabin, she immediately saw Percy sprawled out on his stomach on his bunk. She sat on the edge of the bed and ran her head through his soft raven hair. Percy let out a content sigh, but resumed sleeping. While he slept, she was able to get a better look at him and she caressed the side of his face. It really was unfair how attractive he was. He began to shift and threw an arm around her waist. She rolled her eyes as he resumed snoozing after his shifting. He always slept like a rock.

Laying down next to him, his arm tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Inhaling his familiar scent, she found herself beginning to doze.

She awoke to a gentle tickle in the back of her neck. Blearily absorbing her surroundings, she realized that the tickling was Percy's breathing. Craning her neck, she saw that Percy was asleep and decided to prod him awake.

"Percy. Seaweed Brain, wake up," she ran her hand through his hair.

He inhaled loudly and opened his eyes. He blinked at her blearily, mind obviously still clouded with sleep. He smirked when he realized he was holding her and said "I don't remember you being here when I fell asleep. Did you sneak in to snuggle with me?"

She snorted in response. "Sneak in? There wasn't much sneaking in since all I did was open your unlocked door. Come on, get up, sleepy head."

He merely hummed in response, showing no effort to remove himself from her. They both laid in a comfortable, warm silence, just enjoying each other's presence.

"So," he said as he tapped his fingers on her hips. "Want to tell me why you decided to attack me in the middle of the arena this morning?"

She blushed deeply and she was pretty sure he could feel the rise in her internal temperature. "I did not attack you."

"I would totally say that was an attack. With your lips," he said drily and chuckled into her hair. She was about to respond when he began kissing at the nape of her neck, throwing whatever formulated response she had out the window.

"I think you were jealous," he punctuated each word with a kiss.

"I wasn't jealous," her brain was becoming befuddled and organizing sentences was strenuous. She could feel his smirk pressed into her skin.

"Whatever you say, babe. But, just so you know, there's no reason you should be jealous. You know that I love you."

"I love you too, Seaweed Brain," she said as she bit her lip. He became more focussed on a spot right underneath her ear near her pulse point and she managed to moan out as he sucked on her shoulder blade, "don't you dare leave a mark."

"I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing, Wise Girl," he continued to kiss across to the base of her neck. "Especially when it comes to you."

She pulled on his hair roughly. " _Only_ when it comes to me," she all but growled at him.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way."


	9. Delusions

_**Trigger Warning:**_ **Mentions of depression and suicide.**

* * *

He was standing in a restaurant foyer. Catching a glimpse of himself in a decorative mirror, he recomposed himself, adjusting his tie and running a hand through his windswept hair.

"Sir, how many?" The maitre'd asked.

"I believe she already has a table, but thank you sir."

His eyes swept around the restaurant in search of his dinner companion. When he spotted her recognizable hair, he approached the table.

"I'm so sorry, I'm late, sweetie. Stevenson couldn't shut up so the meeting ran late," he spoke as he bent down to kiss her cheek and sat into the seat across from her.

She chuckled, "It's nothing. I got caught up in one of my projects so I just got here."

He rolled his eyes, not surprised. Dinner went without a hitch. They had a fantastic meal in an intimate, romantic atmosphere with one of his favorite bottles of wine. After paying the check, he led her out of the restaurant by hand and walked her to her car. Pressing her against the driver's side door, he kissed her thoroughly.

The kiss left them breathless and he peered down at her. Illuminated by the moon, she looked absolutely radiant. He was about to press another kiss to her lips, but she pulled back out of his reach. "Percy, when are you going to tell her?"

Sighing, he dropped his head to her shoulder. "Soon, I promise. It's just not good timing yet." He knew he was making excuses, but he dreaded having to do what she asked. Yet, he knew that it was inevitable that it would happen. He was just pushing it off until he had to.

"Babe, there will never be good timing and you know it," she sighed as she played with the lapels of his suit jacket. "You're just delaying and the more time that passes, the more it'll hurt in the end."

"I know. I'll do it soon. I promise."

It looked like she was about to argue further, but she pursed her lips and didn't say anything else. She only nodded in response and they shared one more kiss before she climbed into her car.

Just as she was starting the engine, he ducked down to talk to her again. "Rachel, I love you. I promise it'll be soon."

He closed the car door and stepped back as she drove out of the restaurant lot.

* * *

He was in front of an apartment door. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Walking in, he glanced around the room and found Annabeth sitting on the couch, watching some show on the television.

"Hi honey, how was dinner with the boss?" She asked without glancing at him.

He shifted nervously by the edge of the couch and thought of all the things he could say, but blurted out, "I'm having an affair with Rachel Dare."

He closed his eyes and cringed. _Fuck_. He was an idiot. That was probably the worst way to ever tell someone that. He opened his eyes to see her looking down into her lap.

"I know," she whispered. He should have felt shocked by her admission, but strangely, he wasn't even the slightest bit surprised. She was always outrageously perceptive and observant. Despite all of his attempts to hide, she was always smarter than him.

"I want a divorce," the words slipped effortlessly out of his mouth and he wished it was harder to say.

"Okay," his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He was expecting anger, sobs, fighting, yelling, and so much more. Not this dejected Annabeth, who said nothing but a few words.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?"

She finally met his eyes and his heart clenched at the tears streaming down her face, "there's nothing left for me to say. I'll go pack my bags."

And with that, she retreated into the bedroom. He was left gaping. There was no fight. Not even a single semblance of a fight. What the hell just happened? It couldn't have been that easy, could it?

* * *

He was on his knees looking for the pen that had accidentally rolled behind the dresser. Annabeth had moved out long ago so the dresser would have been light enough for him to simply move, but reaching behind it seemed easier to him. But, as he was searching on his knees, he started to regret his decision.

Reaching for the pen, he stopped since something bright orange caught his eyes. He grabbed the unknown object and returned to his feet. It was an empty pill bottle. He squinted his eyes to read the label.

 _Annabeth Jackson_

 _Fluoxetine 60 mg_

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and tried to recall any mentions of illness. He walked over to his laptop and did a quick search of the prescription. Clicking on the first result, he read the first line and was completely stunned.

 _Fluoxetine, more commonly referred to as Prozac, is one of the most commonly used anti-depressants used in the United States._

Anti-depressant? He started to become slightly panicked as he continued reading.

 _To treat major depressive disorder, 20 mg is considered to be the typical therapeutic dose. Dosages can be in 20 mg, 40 mg, and 60 mg._

He glanced back at the prescription bottle in his hand. _60 mg._ Annabeth had been taking the maximum dose. A frenzy of almost panicked energy invaded him as he read as much as he could about the medication and major depressive disorder.

After half an hour of researching, he sat back in stunned silence. From what he had read, to reach such a high dose of medication took time. It took weeks maybe months to reach that point. How had this gone completely unnoticed by him? A wave a guilt flooded him as he failed to comprehend the reality of the situation. His wife had been taking anti-depressants for God knows how long without his knowledge. She had been struggling with this awful, life-threatening disease by herself while he was off having a fucking _affair_ with another woman.

He was completely lost in thought when a ringing brought him out of his reverie. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Percy Jackson?"

"Yes, this is him speaking," he answered, still unfocused and in a slight daze.

"Sir, we have found your wife unresponsive and need you to come here immediately."

* * *

He was cold. Looking around him, he noted his surroundings. There was a slight chemical stench in the air and a low buzzing could be heard in the background. The hallway he was in was painted in dull colors and he was seated in a hard chair.

"Mr. Jackson?"

Standing up, he spun around to look at the man, who was wearing scrubs and a white coat. "Yes, that's me."

"Hello, I'm Dr. Anderson. Thank you for taking the time to come here. Please, follow me." He followed the man and the smell of antiseptic overloaded his sense. The center table captured his attention as he walked closer to it. His stomach was sinking and he fought the urge to run and vomit up his guts. The man stopped to stand on the other side of the table and lifted the blanket for him to see.

She was impossibly pale. Her blonde hair fell around her head like a halo and her lips were blue. He wished her eyes were open so that he could see those striking grey eyes again, but it wasn't meant to be.

Sucking in a deep breath, he answered the unasked question, "yeah, that's her."

He wanted to crumble to his knees and sob, but he forced himself to remain strong for now. "What happened?" He was almost afraid to ask, but he needed to know.

"Suicide. Your wife overdosed," the words sent a chill through his veins. _Suicide._ _Wife._ If only the man knew what he had done. It might be classified as a suicide, but he thought it was more apt if the man had said homicide because he knew. He knew that he was the reason why his wife was dead. He couldn't fortify himself against the sudden attack of emotions so he dropped to his knees. Despite the fact that he knew he wasn't alone, he started to violently sob.

"I'm sorry. Annabeth, I'm so sorry. Please come back to me. I'm so sorry," he let out strangled wails as he heard the patter of footsteps disappear, indicating the doctor had left. "God, please. I'm sorry. Please. I'm sorry, Annabeth."

* * *

He jolted awake. His mind and heart were racing and even though he was only wearing boxers, his entire body was soaked in sweat. The covers and pillows of the bed were all thrown to the floor and he couldn't process any coherent thoughts. The bedside clock beside him blinked _4_ _:37AM_ in neon green as he frantically tried to calm his over sensitized body. Memories of the dream flashed through his mind and the emotions that stemmed from it flooded through him.

All of a sudden, he felt bile rising in his throat and sprinted to his bathroom. Lifting the toilet lid, he vomited into the bowl as tears streamed down his eyes. Once his retching was reduced to dry heaves, he flushed the toilet and fell back against the wall. He was shaking. His head fell in between his knees and he forced himself to take slow deep breaths.

When his tremors subsided, he lugged himself to the sink to brush his teeth to remove the awful residue left in his mouth. After washing his face, he lent against the counter, gripping the edge until his knuckles turned white. He saw how horrible he looked as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were completely bloodshot and his hair was matted against his forehead.

 _Annabeth._

Visions of a lifeless body flashed in his mind and it nearly sent him back to the toilet. Instead, he bolted out of the bathroom and grabbed the nearest shirt, his keys, and wallet. He sprinted to his car and drove as fast as he could to an apartment building ten minutes away from his. His mind wasn't processing any of his movements as he drove on autopilot. He recklessly pulled into the first spot he found and ran through the building searching for his destination. Upon arriving at the door, he banged as hard as he could with no consideration to how early it was and yelled loudly "Annabeth! Open up! Annabeth!"

Though it was barely a few minutes in reality, it felt like an hour had passed since he started knocking on the wooden door. He gave up and his frantic mind prepared to break down the door. He squared up his shoulder and was about to ram the door when it was suddenly pulled open, revealing a furious woman with tussled blonde hair wearing light blue sleep shorts and a navy tank top.

"What the fucking hell do you - Percy? What's wrong?" Her tirade was interrupted as he bowled her over with a hug. He buried his face in her curls, inhaling the familiar lemon scent. He was probably squeezing her too tightly, but she didn't complain. She slowly led them over to the couch and pulled away to sit him down on the couch. He was about to complain about the lack of contact until she sat on his lap. He automatically wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her impossibly close to him.

"Percy, babe, breathe. Tell me what's wrong." He hadn't realized that he was crying until she was wiping his tears away with the pads of her thumb.

"Dream. We were married. I cheated. Divorce. Secrets. Depression. You killed yourself," he stuttered in words, failing to form sentences, as he tried to regulate his breathing. He shuddered at the memories of his dream as he squeezed his eyes shut to force out the visions flashing through his mind.

She carded her hand through his hair, massaging his scalp. The action brought a calmness over him and he sighed against her neck. He whispered against her, "I love you. I love you so damn much. There will never be anyone else. Don't you dare ever leave me. I love you."

"Percy, look at me. I'm not sick. I'm okay and I'm not going anywhere. I promise you that I'm not going anywhere," she replied. They sat in silence, him absorbing her presence and her trying her best to wipe away his fear. The dream had felt so real, but at the same time, he couldn't imagine it ever happening. He would never cheat, especially on Annabeth, and after this, he vowed that he would never even let Annabeth ever have an inkling of insecurity that he was. If they were married, he would love her and cherish her until the day he died.

"Marry me," cut through the silence. Annabeth looked at him with wide eyes. He realized that he was the one who had said that and caught her stare with his own incredulous look.

"Did you - did you just _propose_?"

He gaped at her and he felt a warm blush spread across his cheeks. This really wasn't what he had in mind. Actually, he didn't even have _proposing_ in mind. Especially not at five in the morning after he sprinted here from his apartment after a hellish nightmare that brought him to tears. And especially not when she was only wearing her pajamas and, fucking hell, he wasn't even wearing any damn pants.

She seemed to have collected herself faster than he was able to as she said drily, "Seaweed Brain, you're not even wearing any pants."

"Um, can I try that again later?"

She threw her head back and let out a loud laugh. After her little laughing fit, she pecked him on the lips and grabbed one of the hands around her waist, "come on, let's just go to bed."

He followed her into the bedroom and wrapped his arms around her as they adjusted themselves in bed. Just as he was drifting to sleep, he whispered in her ear, "Love you, Wise Girl."

"I love you too, Seaweed Brain. I'll always be here."

* * *

 **A/N: If you or someone you care about are having suicidal thoughts, please contact the Suicide Hotline at 1(800)273-TALK.**


	10. Twin Beds

**A/N: First one-shot of this series that is written in third person and from a neutral perspective.**

If anyone were to look into Cabin Three right now, they would see a couple lying on one of the lower bunks, unconsciously fighting each other for the covers and room on the tiny twin bed. The subconscious fight culminated in the woman kicking the man off the bed, winning the battle of the bed. However, the man did not go completely beaten as he dragged the covers down with him. Once he was seemingly comfortable on the floor, the man resumed his snoring as his partner sprawled on the bed. All of this occurring without either fully waking up.

The next morning, Annabeth woke up cold. Refusing to completely wake up, she blindly attempted to find Percy and the covers on the small bed to no avail. Confused, she opened her eyes to see that besides her, the only other thing on the bed was a pillow. Glancing down to the floor, she grinned at the sight of her boyfriend curled into a ball entangled in the covers on the floor.

"Seaweed Brain, wake up," she repeated multiple times. Seeing that her attempts were fruitless, she hurled the pillow at the sleeping man.

He let out an unintelligible grumble and blinked rapidly to clear the cloud of sleep in his eyes. He immediately registered the cold hard floor of his cabin and cringed at the soreness he could feel seeping into his back. He looked up to meet Annabeth's eyes that twinkled with humor. Groaning, he fell back to the floor and shut his eyes, "Kick me off the bed again, dear?"

Laughing, she replied, "Didn't seem like you left me much choice."

"Well, at least this is better than the other night. I'm glad I have the covers with me this time."

"Hey, I said sorry and warmed you up in the morning, didn't I?" She raised her eyebrows and beckoned him to rejoin her on the bed. Gathering the covers and molding himself against her, pulling her back to his chest as close as possible, he hummed into her hair in agreement.

The twin bed was great to cuddle in when they were consciously holding onto each other. But, the twin bed was not conducive to sleeping together. It also didn't help that they were twenty-two years old and definitely not small or short by any means. Both were above average heights with Percy towering over six feet and Annabeth a little under six feet. Due to his avid swimming, Percy was built like a swimmer with broad shoulders and defined arms, which already made it difficult to sleep alone in such a small bed. Adding Annabeth to the equation made it substantially more difficult, but it was something he wasn't going to sacrifice.

Some nights, Annabeth slept on Percy's broad chest or back. Though Percy loved having his girlfriend so close to him, having another human on him made it harder to breathe sometimes. Plus, on the nights when Percy, who seemed to be more susceptible to bad dreams, was having a nightmare, his tossing and turning resulted in her being launched from the bed.

Most nights, they laid spooning one another. If Percy was asked, he would always say he was the big spoon. But, if Annabeth was asked, she'd wink and say that in reality, it was more half and half despite all of Percy's claims. But, sometimes, that could be a temporary position as just like what occurred the previous night, Percy was on the floor much to his own dismay the next morning.

"We're too old to be sharing a bed made for a twelve year old," Percy broke the silence.

"For once, I agree with you, Seaweed Brain."

Linking their hands together, he brought her hand to press a kiss to her fingers, "We're engaged for crying out loud. Think that Chiron will be okay with moving some of these bunks out of here to get a full bed or something? It's not like my dad is going to be having any more kids soon and he's let me know that he's well aware that you're usually in here with me." The memories of his mighty father, God of the Sea, surprising him in his old New York apartment bedroom to sit him down and talk about Percy's relationship, _all facets of his relationship_ , with Annabeth brought an overwhelming feeling of embarrassment that he tried to subdue by smothering his face in his girlfriend's curls.

He heard his girlfriend laughing and felt her hand running through his hair, she responded, "You're still embarrassed about that talk? I can feel the heat radiating off of your cheeks."

"Hey now, if your mom sat you down and talked about your _relations_ with me,you'll see how scarring that can be," he poked her in the side that made her squirm.

Swatting his hand away, she said, "Okay, I'll give you that. But, I don't know about Chiron. No one's really ever moved in together at camp before."

"I mean, we already live together outside of camp. Chiron knows about the nightmares and we're basically living together in my cabin anyways. Might as well get a bed that actually fits us when we're here to train the others."

She hummed in agreement, "I guess you're not all that much of a seaweed brain." He let out an indignant response, but she ignored him and continued, "We'll talk to him after breakfast."

Chiron allowed them to get a bigger bed much to the couple's delight. But, as soon as he acquiesced with their request, he sat them down to have a conversation of their own about the couple's relations much to Percy's and Annabeth's dismay.

As they were leaving the Big House, Percy asked, "Was a bigger bed worth that scarring conversation with _Chiron_ of all people?"

For what seems like the first time in her life, Annabeth replied, "I honestly don't know."


	11. Treat You Better

**Disclaimer: Lyrics pulled from Shawn Mendes' "Treat You Better."**

* * *

 _"_ _I know he's just not right for you. And you can tell me if I'm off, but I see it on your face when you say that's he the one that you want."_

* * *

"Percy? Are you even listening to me?" There were suddenly fingers snapping in his field of vision. He blinked and looked back into a pair of stunning grey eyes.

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes. "Seaweed Brain, I said can we reschedule the rest of our movie night later? Luke just texted me and wants to meet up."

He scrunched his nose at the question. He hated how much things had changed. He's known Annabeth since they were six years old and after he shared one of his mother's blue chocolate chip cookies on her first day of class, they've been best friends ever since. They were practically inseparable growing up, but that all changed when six months ago, Annabeth started dating Luke Castellan, the high school's resident jock and All-American boy. Now, it was lucky if he and her could spend a few hours watching a movie or something not school related.

He nearly growled at the thought of Luke. The undeserving prick that swept every girl in the school, including Annabeth, off their feet. With his styled blonde hair and varsity lettermen jacket, he was the definition of the perfect boy to bring home to the family and the most popular guy at school. Annabeth was beyond enamored, but he knew better about the object of her affections. He heard what Luke said in the locker rooms and how Luke still had a penchant to talk about other girls even though he had the best girl there was.

Alright, so Percy maybe had a little crush on his best friend. _Okay fine_ , so maybe he had more than a tiny crush on his best friend. It might be better described as an all-encompassing, infatuating love for her that he's kept a secret for the past two years ever since they started high school.

And, it was this goddamn Luke that was stealing Annabeth away from him and convincing her to leave him in the dust. It wasn't even about any romantic possibilities he had that were being squandered that bothered him. No, it was the fact that ever since Annabeth started dating Luke, she completely forgot what their friendship was. He was pissed and hurt that Annabeth was finding it so easy to replace him after a decade of being best friends. However, being the annoyingly good guy he is, he's kept relatively quiet about his hurt since she was happy. Or at least seemed to be happy. He's recently started to have serious doubt over the matter, but Annabeth has shut down any conversation when he brought up his concerns and hints of disapproval regarding her boyfriend.

"You're blowing me off again? This is the third time! We haven't hung out in weeks!"

"I know and I'm sorry, but Luke wants me to go with him to this party tonight." Annabeth did look apologetic, but it didn't quell the anger he had.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Annabeth, you hate parties. So you're telling me that you would rather go out and party with Luke then stay in and watch a movie with me?"

There was a brief hesitation in her answer before she said, "Well, no. But, Percy, it's Luke. He's my _boyfriend_." Stressing the last word as if he needed any reminder of the fact.

"So? I'm your _best friend_. Tell him that you don't want to go to the party and that we haven't hung out in ages."

"Seaweed Brain, I can't. I'm going to go so maybe we can do this another time."

"You can't keep dropping everything just for him!" But, in his mind, he was screaming at her _you can't keep dropping me_.

"Relationships are about compromise and I want to be with him," she said as she folded her arms and stared at him. They were no longer sitting on his couch, but facing each other in the middle of the living room. This wasn't a compromise. There wasn't ever any compromising. She was continually choosing Luke over him and he couldn't stand it.

He just blankly stared at her in disbelief. He couldn't even protest any further as she abruptly gathered her things and left out the front door of his apartment. He let out an angry yell that reverberated through the empty apartment. He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle being treated like this, but he also couldn't fathom losing Annabeth and just the thought of that happening nearly brought him to his knees.

* * *

 _"And you're spending all your time in this wrong situation."_

* * *

He felt on edge when it came to his friendship with Annabeth since she walked out of their movie night on Friday. It was now Monday morning and he walked through the halls of Goode High, eyes peeled for the familiar head of blonde curls. Annabeth hadn't texted him over the weekend and he refused to be the person to reach out when he believed that he wasn't at fault, especially when he still felt hurt. Arriving at his locker, he got his necessary books for first hour when he felt someone lean up against the lockers next to him.

"Hey, Percy." He didn't have to look to know that it was Annabeth.

"How was the party?"

"Fine...I'm sorry about our movie night." He knew her well enough to know how hard apologizing could be for her and apart from that, he was awful at ignoring her.

He turned to her and gave her a brief hug, wishing that he could hold her for longer. As they pulled away, he said, "Just don't do it again, okay?"

She ran a hand through his hair playfully and ruffled it, responding, "I promise I'll try not to. Meet me in the library after school?"

He nodded in response. As she walked off, he thought back to her response. _I promise_ _I'll try not to_. It wasn't a definitive yes and that bothered him. He was beginning to think that she was taking advantage of their friendship, always relying on him to be there when she needed him, but not paying any mind to their friendship at any other time. This thought preoccupied him throughout the day, distracting his already wandering mind from the lectures. It felt like a lifetime before the day was finally over and he met Annabeth in the library as promised.

With his backpack over one shoulder, he walked into the library looking for her. As he rounded the corner, he spotted Annabeth with all her books out and...locking lips with Luke. He already knew what was coming.

"Hi, Annabeth. Castellan," he afforded the other man a cursory greeting through clenched teeth.

"Hey, Jackson. Babe, want to head home with me?" He didn't even need to listen to Annabeth's answer to know what she would say. He stared at the wall behind the couple, feeling the pain and betrayal seep into his pores as Annabeth began packing her things.

"Sorry, Percy. I'll see you later?" he only nodded in response and waited for the couple to walk out of the library. It hadn't even been twelve hours and her promise was already broken. He was losing his patience and it was getting harder and harder to suppress the feelings of betrayal that flooded his mind.

* * *

 _"And any girl like you deserves a gentleman."_

* * *

"We'll be back in a few hours, Percy!" He heard his mother call from the living room as she and Paul left the apartment. He was lounging in his bed on his laptop when a knock echoed through the apartment.

Opening the door, he wasn't expecting Annabeth, especially when he hadn't really seen her since a few days ago when she walked away with Luke from the library. He had a greeting on the tip of his tongue, but his breath was immediately taken away. He caught a glimpse of her profile and all of a sudden, he was seeing red. "What the _fuck_ did that dick do to you?" There was a bruising mark on her cheek bone and he wanted to throw up at the sight of her hurt like this. Well, after he murdered Luke for causing her pain first.

Taking her by the hand, he pulled her into the apartment and under the kitchen light. He gently grabbed her chin to move her face so that he could see the injury better in the light. It was still red with a bluish mark, indicating the formation of a slight bruise. "Are you okay?"

Annabeth placed her hand on the one he had on her face. Somewhere in the time he was inspecting her cheek, his hand went from cupping her chin to cupping her cheek. "I'm fine. Percy, nothing happened. It was an accident," she tried to say in a soothing tone, but he still felt agitated.

Being so close to her began to mess with his head, so he took a step back and took a deep breath to try to calm himself before he demanded, "Explain to me how the hell this can be an accident."

"Luke was an idiot and got into a fight with one of the guy's on East High's football team. I went in to try to pull him out of the fight and I got the backend of one of his hits. It was an _accident_. I'm okay," she placed both hands on his shoulders to try to reassure him. He was still hurt, but she was here now and this wasn't the time or place to bring up his feelings.

"Come on, let's go watch a movie," he proposed as the pair made it to the couch. He put on an old romantic comedy that they had already seen before, but neither were bothered by the fact.

Halfway through the movie, he looked down and saw her peacefully asleep against his shoulder. He carried her to his bed and tucked her in. Pressing a kiss to her forehead before leaving the room, he grabbed a pillow and blanket and made his bed on the couch.

* * *

 _"Tell me why are we wasting time_ _o_ _n all your wasted crying_ _w_ _hen you should be with me instead."_

* * *

Swim practice had just ended and he was toweling off his hair as he was leaving the swimming facility. Outside the pool was the football field and as he was passing by the bleachers, he noticed a couple kissing under the bleachers. Typically, he would continue walking without casting a second glance, but he noticed that the boy was wearing his football uniform with a big _9_ on the back of the jersey. And that _9_ belonged to a certain quarterback of the football team, who also happened to be dating his blonde best friend. But, the other half of the locked lip couple that Luke was pushing up against the bleachers definitely had brunette hair.

Anger surged through him as he stalked towards the oblivious couple. "What the fuck are you doing you cheating bastard?" He yelled as he pulled the football player away from the girl. Unable to quell his ire, he managed to land a punch on Luke's face, giving the guy a bloody nose.

"What the hell do you want Jackson?" Luke exclaimed as he retaliated and landed a hit on his mouth, giving Percy a bloody lip.

"You know what! First, you make her cry. Then, you _hit_ her. And, now, you're a fucking cheater." He grabbed the boy by the jersey, each sentence punctuated with a harsh shove to the point where Luke hit the back of his head with the last sentence.

Oddly, Luke didn't retaliate physically. He only stared back at him with a crooked smirk on his face. "I can do whatever the fuck I want, Jackson. I may be dating your precious Annabeth, but a guy has needs that she's not wanting to satisfy anytime soon. Even if you tell her what you saw just now, she would never believe you because she'll believe me more when I tell her that you're lying and jealous because you secretly love her."

Internally, he was shocked that Luke knew of his secret feelings. Outwardly, he sneered, "I've been her best friend for over ten years. Annabeth is the smartest girl out there. Your relationship is over."

The bastard only smirked wider back at him and punched him in the stomach, catching Percy off guard and sending him to the floor. Standing over him, Luke said, "Just you wait and see."

Luke kicked him in the stomach for good measure and he stayed curled on the floor as Luke walked away with the blonde girl. He hated that he had lost the fight, but Luke's words unnerved him. Annabeth had to believe him. They've been together for over a decade as best friends. Just because some blond jock came in and started dating her doesn't mean that she'll give up on him. Still, he hated that Luke insinuated differently. Once the pain subsided enough for him to move without wanting to keel over, he picked himself up and made his way to Annabeth's apartment to tell her what he saw. She didn't deserve this and he sure as hell was going to be there for her.

On the drive over, he tried to make himself as presentable as possible. His hair was unfixable and the cut on his upper lip was a dead giveaway that he had been in some kind of altercation, but at least it had stopped bleeding. He rehearsed over a dozen ways to break the news to Annabeth about Luke's infidelity, but all seemed to insensitive and crass. Before he knew it, he was at her apartment door. Running a hand through his hair to try to calm his nerves, he knocked on the door and winced as he discovered that his right fist was sore from connecting with Luke's face.

"Hey Seaweed Brain, I was just - _Percy?_ What happened?" Whatever she was going to say was interrupted when she noticed his split lip. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the apartment to sit him down on the couch. She sat across from him on the edge of the coffee table to look at his injury.

"Where's the family?" He asked, trying to divert the conversation as he started to get nauseatingly nervous. His nerves were on overdrive because he knew that what he came here to say would break her heart and he abhors the fact that he's the one who's doing this. Luke should be and by the looks of it, he wasn't going to be doing it anytime soon, maybe not at all, but if Annabeth discovered that he had known all along and kept it a secret from her, the damage would be irreparable. Plus, she shouldn't be with the guy any longer if he had anything to say about it.

"Twins' soccer game. Don't distract. What happened?" She pulled on his upper lip slightly to examine the extent of the injury. They were leaned in so closely that he could see her eyelashes.

"I got into a fight."

"With?"

"Luke," he said quietly while looking her in the eye.

Her eyes widened as she sat back, "What?"

There was a period of silence as she awaited his answer. "He's cheating on you," he said in an almost whispered sigh.

Annabeth looked like she had been slapped and instead of the sadness and hurt he expected, she was angry.

"You're lying," she seethed. His eyebrows nearly shot up into his hairline. She didn't believe him.

He pulled back away from her, incredulous at the accusation. "Are you serious, Annabeth? You think I would lie to you about this? Ask him about what he was doing with Katherine Jenson by the bleachers after school today because I can tell you right now that it was nothing platonic."

"No, I will not ask him because I trust my boyfriend," she said as she stood up and paced the floor. He felt like he was sucker punched in the gut. He could only stare at her as he heard the words replayed in his head.

"So, you're saying that you don't trust me. Your best friend of ten years. But, you trust your boyfriend of six months," he said the words slowly and almost robotically. He was numb. His oldest and best friend had just turned her back on him and he felt sick to his stomach.

"I don't know," she said, pulling at the ends of her curls. "I just can't believe Luke doing that to me because I know he would never."

"Why the _hell_ would I even lie to you about this?" He exploded at her.

"I don't know!" Annabeth yelled at him with tears running down her face. "I just - I don't know what to believe."

"Wh-what? You know I wouldn't lie to you about this." He tugged at the ends of his hair. "I can't believe you don't trust me. You think I would lie to you about this? Then, fine. Find me when you figure out the 'truth' for yourself. Don't say you didn't see it coming." He briskly walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

* * *

 _"I just wanna give you the loving that you're missing."_

* * *

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since he walked out of her apartment, leaving behind their friendship in tatters. He's barely seen her and may or may not have been actively avoiding her. He heard through the rumor mill at school that Annabeth walked in on Luke and another girl kissing and they immediately broke up. _Oh, how the mighty have_ fallen, he thought bitterly.

Hearing a knock, he opened the door to the last person he expected to see on his doorstep. Annabeth looked at him apologetically, but he couldn't find it in himself to feel sympathy for her. Because he knew why she was here and he couldn't suppress the flood of betrayal and hurt that rushed through his veins.

He was about to close the door when she shot out a hand to impede the action. "Percy, please can we talk?"

He had so much pent up emotions that were on the cusp of bursting. He was like a dormant volcano about to explode and the impetus of eruption was looking Annabeth in the eyes for the first time since he left her apartment after their fight.

He wrenched the door open and pulled her into his apartment. He angrily slammed the door as hard as he could and rounded on her. "Okay, you want to talk? Then talk. Tell me why Luke was better than me. Tell me why I was basically dropped the moment you met him. Tell me what I did all these years that made you not trust me. Tell me what I did to deserve being treated like _shit_ by someone who I thought was my friend. My _best_ friend."

He knew that he was yelling and he never yelled at anyone, let alone at Annabeth. Thankful that he was home alone when she came, he was able to make as much noise as possible without drawing any attention from his mother and Paul. Each sentence he said ripped a tear in his heart. It was one thing to keep these words as thoughts. Saying them out loud made it so much more real.

They were in the same position they were in weeks ago when Annabeth bailed on him for Luke. They were finally having this conversation. He could see tears forming in her eyes from where he stood and he could feel the tears in his own eyes welling. Annabeth only stared at him, completely uttered speechless by his rant.

After a period of silently staring at one another, he continued in a softer tone, "You used me and dumped me like I was yesterday's trash. Do you know how hard it was for me to see him treat you that way? Unintentional or not, he _fucking_ hit you for God's sake yet you still went back to him. I don't know who you are anymore, Annabeth, but I do know it's not someone I want to continue being friends with especially when..." He trailed off realizing what he was close to confessing. He was about to continue talking when he was interrupted.

"When what? Especially when what?"

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity until he closed his eyes and decided to bite the bullet, realizing that he didn't care anymore and the anger and resentment he felt towards her clouded his judgment, "Especially when I was in love with you."

She looked at him incredulously, eyes wide as saucers. "Wh-what? You're...you're in love with me?"

He stared her dead in the eye, retaliating, a little more harshly than he intended, "Was. I was in love with you."

She took a few steps backwards until she reached the couch. Sitting on it, she looked at him and he could see the gears churning in her head. She said slowly, "When?"

He walked over to his window and looked out at the city skyline, contemplating whether or not to tell her the truth. Nervously tapping his fingers on the sill, he responded, "Freshmen year."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"There are lots of reason. You never showed any interest in me. You were always going on and on about Luke. We were best friends. I - "

" _Were?_ " She interrupted him.

Shutting his eyes, he pressed his forehead on the window. "Annabeth, look at the past six months. I don't think we even categorize as friends anymore. We don't hang out, you barely talk to me unless I bring something up, and when we do hang out, I'm always _fucking_ bailed on for your boyfriend instead. And, we can't forget about the fact that you apparently don't trust me enough as much as you trust your boyfriend." He couldn't help, but throw what happened previously, what brought this on in the first place, back in her face.

"Percy, I'm so so sorry." He could hear the tears in her voice.

"You've said sorry a million times before...," he hesitated before continuing, "...and it's not enough anymore." Facing her, he could feel his heart break at the sight of her in tears, but he stood his ground. "Annabeth, I think you should leave now."

He walked to his bedroom and slammed the door shut, praying that Annabeth wouldn't follow him in. She seemed to adhere to his request as minutes later, he heard the front door close and he let out a deep sigh. Collapsing onto the bed, he stared at the ceiling as he wondered how his life got so complicated.

* * *

 _"Give me a sign_. _Take my hand, we'll be fine."_

* * *

He hadn't seen Annabeth in several weeks and it was unbelievable how much he missed her. It had taken an obvious toll on his behavior and mood as his mother stopped him before he left for school earlier today.

"Perce, come here and sit," his mother said as he left the kitchen with a glass of milk.

"Hey, mom. What's up?"

"Is everything okay? We've noticed that things have been...odd...with you recently." Mother's intuition is a very real thing in Sally Jackson.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine. Annabeth and I are just having a rough patch," he cringed at his choice of words. He wasn't sure if the complete fallout of their friendship could be categorized as a rough patch, but he wasn't keen on saying more when his emotions about the entire situation were still raw.

"You know that you can always talk to me right?" He nodded in response. "Okay, I'll see you later tonight." He gave his mom a hug and walked out the door.

When he came home, he was almost glad that his mother wasn't home yet. She didn't seem completely satisfied with his answer and he feared that she might interrogate him more when neither had anywhere to go. It wasn't like he didn't like talking to his mom. He was just fortunate enough to never experience many dramatic events such as this, so he didn't have the experience in consulting with other people. Usually, when he was in need, he went to Annabeth, but that was clearly not an option at the moment. As if the world was playing tricks on him, he opened the front door to see the exact person, who couldn't leave his mind.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Can we talk? Please?" He couldn't resist her eyes and God, he didn't realize exactly how much he had missed her. Stepping aside to let her in, he rocked on the heels of his feet nervously.

"Sit on the couch with me?" He wordlessly answered her request and sat as far as he could from her on the couch.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking and I realized some really important things. I love you, Percy. I want to be in a relationship with you and I feel so _unbelievably_ stupid for not seeing this before. And, God, Percy, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me for being such a moron because I can't - I - I love you and I want to be with you," his eyes bugged out at her confession. He just gaped at her, unable to form words. He was confused. He always thought that he would be elated when she said that she loved him, but he didn't. He was still hurt and he knew he had an answer.

"Annabeth," he took her hand in his to try to alleviate the hurt she'll feel when he says these words, "It still hurts and I cannot bring myself to completely forgive you, at least at the moment. I'm sorry." She nodded at his words, understanding that what she had done had hurt him drastically.

As much as it pained him to say, he found himself telling her, "I can't be in a relationship with you right now."

The downtrodden look on her face killed him, but he knew he was right. Grabbing her arms, he reassured her, "Not right now, Annabeth. This doesn't mean I don't want to be with you. Our friendship took a huge hit and I need to make sure this isn't some rebound thing after Luke. We need to work on our friendship first."

She looked up and tearily smiled at him. "When did you get so smart?"

He smiled at her softly, cupping her face and using his thumb to wipe away the falling tears, "I've always been smart. Just been waiting for you to notice me."

"I'm sorry, Percy. But, you have to know that I mean it when I say that I'm in love with you," as if to further emphasize her point, she brought him down and kissed him. It's not like he hasn't been kissed before, but this is the first time he's actually _felt_ something in a kiss. It was slow, soft, and tender and made him want to kiss her forever. But, he had to suppress his raging hormones and stand his ground.

Pulling away, he asked, "What was that for?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "I just wanted to show you that you mean everything to me and I want us to be together. And, I understand where you're coming from, so I'll wait for us to be, well, _us_."

"I'm glad that you understand. I know it'll suck for a little bit now, but I promise we'll have all the time in the world to be happy later," he smiled at her and stepped back from the embrace.

Annabeth stuck out her hand, "Ready to start over?"

"Yeah, ready to start over," he grinned.

* * *

 _"Just know that you don't_ _h_ _ave to do this alone_. _Promise I'll never let you down"_

* * *

It had been a month since their "starting over" and things couldn't be better. They were back to where they were before the Luke catastrophe and they were closer than ever. Movie nights were weekly occurrences and study sessions became more and more frequent as finals were just around the corner.

"Look at us, we're seniors," he said, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they walked out of the high school on their last day of junior year. "Can we get a head start on the pranks? I bet I can get a couple guys to help me put a golf cart on the roof."

Leaning into him, she laughed at his antics, "I would be careful if I were you. I'm not bailing you out, Seaweed Brain."

Things were so good between them and he wanted for them to move forward in their relationship, but he was hesitant to since they hadn't talked about their feelings for one another after their agreement to start over.

"I've been thinking - "

"So, Wise Girl - "

They abruptly stopped walking and looked at one another with slight blushes on their face. He started to scratch the back of his neck nervously, "Um, ladies first."

Annabeth took his hand and dragged him under the shade of an elm tree to escape the hot sun. She played with her fingers as he could hear the nervousness in her voice as she said, "Well, I've, um, been thinking about us recently. And, uh, I just wanted to ask where we were on this?"

He grinned at her. "Annabeth, would you like to be my girlfriend?" He asked nervously.

She didn't say anything at first, causing him to almost seize into a panic attack. But, she walked up close to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Leaning down, he met her halfway and kissed her. God, he loved kissing her and, even though it's just the second kiss, he swore that he's already addicted. They parted and grinned happily at each other.

"So, I guess we're really doing this," he shyly grinned at her as he held her hand, intertwining their fingers. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as they continued walking down the street.

Bumping shoulders with him, she said, "Yeah, we're really doing this."

After a brief silence, she blurted out, "I love you." As if her mind caught up with what she said, she stopped walking and sputtered, "You don't have to say it back. I know it's too soon, but we've known each other forever and I wanted to tell you that I really do love you and that I hope you'll feel the same way someday - "

He interrupted her with a kiss, "I love you too," he said as they parted.

She looked at him with wide eyes, "You do?"

"Yeah, I never fell out of love with you. I was just mad about the Luke thing. I love you, Wise Girl. Actually, I love you a lot."

She looked at him sadly and before he could say anything, she said, "I'm still really sorry about all of that. I wish I never dated Luke in the first place."

"Annabeth, you really don't have to apologize anymore. Luke was a dick. I promise that I will treat you a million times better than he did and I'll never let you down...well, at least intentionally cause, you know, as you say, I'm a seaweed brain," he said jokingly.

Laughing, she pulled on his hand to keep walking, "True, but you're my seaweed brain."

"And you say I'm the cheeseball," he said drily, rolling his eyes. "How about this? Let's not talk about Luke ever again. Instead, how about we head to my house. I think my mom made cookies."

"Sounds perfect."

* * *

 _"I know I can treat you better_. _Better than he can."_


	12. Charm

"Ready to do this?" His girlfriend looked at him. He looked into her shocking blue eyes and nodded. It was time that they told their parents about their relationship. The timing was perfect. The Jacksons and the Graces were having their weekly dinner and he and Kendall just confirmed their relationship only a few days prior. Though they've known each other since they were born, he and Kendall didn't begin to see each other in a romantic light until their early teens. Now, at the ripe age of fifteen, they finally got the guts to begin a relationship. It was just a matter of telling the parents now.

"Nervous?"

"Your dad scares me." Uncle Jason was one of his favorite people in the world, but he's seen how the man acted when a boy was in proximity of his daughter.

She snorted, "You've known him since you were born. How is that possible?"

"Have you seen the way he looks at guys around you? He's about two seconds away from pulling a sword out and castrating any teen male that steps within a ten feet radius of you."

She patted his head, condescendingly, to which he glared at her. "It'll be fine, Dad loves you."

"Sure, we'll see how he feels when he realizes I'm the boy kissing you."

They walked into the kitchen and sat in their seats. It was a fairly full table with the two fathers at the ends, the moms on one side with his mother sitting next to his sister, Alexandra, and he, Kendall, and the younger Grace, Liam, sitting on the other. Dinner proceeded as usual. It was always an eventful, happy time and these dinners have been held between the families for as long as he could remember.

Once the younger kids were dismissed from the table, Kendall poked his side. It was time. He felt the ball of nerves in his stomach and he could already feel his face flushing. He cleared his throat and the table went silent. "Um, Kendall and I have an announcement," he paused nervously.

"Oh my gods, are you pregnant?" Aunt Piper said, her face completely ashen.

He whipped his head to her and stared with wide eyes, "No! Not that! Kendall is my friend of a girl now." Realizing what he said, he immediately sputtered, "No! Girlfriend. But, not girl _friend._ Girlfriend, like the one you kiss and do stuff with. Kendall is my girlfriend."

He could feel the warmth in his cheeks flushing and he conciously willed himself to diminish the red blush. To his left, his father snickered loudly with laughter while on his right, he heard Kendall's head thud to the table. _Smooth, Jackson._ His mother looked like she was struggling to keep her laughter at bay and he risked a glance to the Graces. Aunt Piper had a huge grin on her face, but Uncle Jason just looked at him with shock.

"Damn it," his mother interrupted the silence. "I can't believe you inherited Percy's charm."

"Yeah, he did!" The proud smile on his father's face instantly fell into a frown when he realized what his mom actually meant. "Hey! I would like to point out that my charm was good enough to impress you." His father sat back with a triumphant grin.

"Oh, shut up, I always made the first move. Plus, that charm got us into a very uncomfortable conversation about sex with not only your mother, but also another with Chiron," his mother said, rolling her eyes. He could see his dad physically wince at the memories.

"What the hell do you mean by 'do stuff with'?" Uncle Jason said, cutting off the conversation at the other end of the table.

"Huh?" He (rather idiotically) responded.

"You said, and I quote, 'girlfriend like the one you kiss _and do stuff with.'_ So, I repeat, what the hell do you mean by that?" He cowered under Uncle Jason's stare.

"No! I didn't mean anything bad. I just wasn't thinking! Like holding hands and going on dates! Not like sex stuff, just regular couple stuff." He ran his fingers nervously through his blonde hair. _Good gods_ , he was digging his grave.

"Preston!" Kendall slapped his shoulder.

Aunt Piper let out an enormous laugh, "Pres, you are your father's child."

Uncle Jason's stare broke into a small grin as he laughed at his friend's expense. "And, that is why I'm okay with this because you're exactly like Percy, which means you're going to be a very well-behaved, yet awkward boyfriend."

"I'm still in the room!" His father yelled, indignantly.

Yeah, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

* * *

 **A little divergent from our typical Percy and Annabeth story, but I couldn't resist. Review!**


	13. Cravings

You would think that after the first pregnancy, Percy would be used to the unusual cravings and grocery store or fast food runs at the oddest hours. Nope. For unknown reasons, Annabeth's first pregnancy was a fairly tale. Oh, what a blissful time that was. The only wild cravings she ever got was a hankering for neapolitan ice cream and dill pickles at midnight. Even at that, the wild cravings were few and far between. He really didn't know how good he had it.

But, that was the first pregnancy. The second one was a whole other ball game.

And, that's how he found himself pulling into the McDonald's drive thru line at three in the morning to order Annabeth an Oreo McFlurry and a pack of chicken McNuggets. He nearly fell asleep at the steering wheel waiting for the food.

"Uh, sir? That'll be $7.87."

He blearily blinked at the worker. "Oh, right. Sorry about that," he said as he handed the guy the money.

The worker looked at him sympathetically, "Pregnant wife?"

He chuckled, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Let's just say that you're not the first guy to almost fall asleep in the drive thru at some ungodly hour," the guy said as he handed over the food. "I'm just glad to see that you have pants on."

"Um, you're welcome, I guess? Thanks, man," bidding the worker goodbye, Percy sped off to return back home. He walked into their home to the site of his pregnant wife rummaging through the refrigerator. "Honey, I've got your McDonalds."

"I have never loved you more," she pecked him quickly on the lips and ripped the bag and frozen treat from his hands. He shook his head and retreated to the living room to collapse on the couch. He was on the verge of falling back asleep when he heard his name.

"Percy, did you get me any sweet and sour sauce?"

His eyes shot open and he bolted upright. Annabeth had completely upturned the contents of the bag on the counter. She looked at him with her hands on his hips. "Um, what?"

"Did you get sweet and sour sauce?"

"You just told me to get you chicken nuggets and an Oreo McFlurry!"

"But, how am I supposed to eat these nuggets without sauce?"

He could barely keep his eyes open. There was no way he could physically make another trip to McDonalds. "Dip them in your McFlurry."

She furrowed her eyebrows and looked back to her food. Taking a nugget, she dunked it in her McFlurry. He cringed at the sight of the frozen treat on the chicken nugget, but his wife clearly disagreed with him at the sound of her enjoyment.

"You're a genius, Seaweed Brain!" She turned back to the food and he thanked all the gods for giving him a break. He heaved himself off the couch, plopped a kiss on the top of Annabeth's head, and trudged back to the bedroom for some much needed rest.

* * *

He could hear Piper's cooing over the newborn baby in Annabeth's arms. The Graces had come by to welcome the newest Jackson home. He looked outside to see Preston walking with Kendall towards their vegetable garden and pulled out two carrots. Preston began munching on one as he handed Kendall the other. Percy cringed as he saw the kids eat the dirt covered vegetables. Annabeth seemed to have also noticed as she sighed and said, "I think Preston is feeding Kendall dirt."

As Jason went to carry the newest addition to the Jackson family, he replied, "Oh that's alright. I guess I should admit that the other week, Kendall decided to share and handed him her building blocks...into his face."

He snorted, "Ah, the beginnings of a budding romance."

Jason glared at him. "Preston better keep his distance. She's still daddy's girl."

Whatever retort he had was interrupted as screams rang throughout the house. "I'm hungry, Daddy!" Kendall exclaimed as she crossed the kitchen's threshold. Handing Alexandra to Percy, Jason got up to attend to his daughter.

"Daddy, can I have a peanut butter sandwich?" Kendall pulled on her father's shirt. Their home was basically a second abode to the Grace family so Jason needed no help abiding to his daughter's request, moving around the kitchen without any need for guidance. He turned his attention to his daughter and bounced Alexandra in his arms as he continued to listen to Piper's and Annabeth's discussion about the changes Chiron wanted to install at camp within the next few summers.

"Percy, why on earth does your jar of peanut butter have beef jerky in it?" He let out a loud laugh while Annabeth had the decency to look embarrassed.

* * *

 **A/N: short and sweet. Review!**


	14. Possessive

**A/N: After many requests, here's a take on Percy giving into that green-eyed monster.**

* * *

"So, when do you want to meet up to do this assignment?" Her assigned partner, James, asked her. School had just finished and in her last period, her literature teacher gave a last minute assignment over their most recent reading to the class that would be due after the weekend.

Percy was coming to pick her up soon, so she knew that anytime the rest of today would be out of the question. Thinking of her weekend plans, she replied, "How about tomorrow? What time are you free?" But before he could reply, she saw over James' shoulder Percy walking rather quickly towards her.

"Hey, babe," he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers when he reached her. She responded to him instinctively and it wasn't until he pulled away that she looked at him incredulously. This initiation of a very public kiss came from the boy who abhorred PDA as much as he hated flying. They kept their affection private and it was something they mutually appreciated. Sure, they would greet each other with a peck on the cheek, but never have they kissed to that degree in public. They had only been dating for a few months and were still in that odd transition from being best friends to dating. Their relationship was still brand new to them. Also, _babe?_ Where did that come from?

"Hi, I'm Percy, Annabeth's _boyfriend_. Who are you?" She was once again taken off guard. This was the first time the terms "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" were used referring them. Percy stuck his hand out and glared at James like he would if he were sizing up a monster as James shook his hand.

"James." James turned to her and redirected the conversation to what they were discussing before Percy arrived. "So, what are your plans at noon tomorrow?"

Before she could utter a single syllable, Percy cut her off, "Sorry, James that won't work. We have plans to eat lunch with my mom tomorrow." Sally often times invited her over for meals with Percy acting as the messenger, so she didn't question it, instead offering James a sympathetic smile.

"Okay, later in the afternoon then. Two?"

Again, Percy intervened. "Nope, she can't meet you then either." Befuddled by his behavior, she glared at him. Percy avoided her eye and only pulled her closer to him.

"Percy-"

This time, James spoke, cutting her off. "Fine, we'll do later that night. Eight?"

Percy didn't let a millisecond of silence occur before replying, "Actually, she's busy with me all day tomorrow." Their assignment was due the following Monday, so James looked a little put out by Percy's statement.

"Fine, I guess Sunday."

"Annabeth and I-"

"Percy, shut up!" She yelled, drawing the attention of not only Percy and James, but also everyone else in the hallway. She had enough of the constant interruptions by Percy. Turning to James, she addressed him, "We'll meet up at the library tomorrow at four?" He nodded and she wordlessly pulled Percy out of the school.

She pulled him to the side of the building, away from prying eyes. Rounding on him, she asked, "Okay, Seaweed Brain, what in the Hades was that all about?" She placed her hands on her hips and stared at him. He had the decency to look sheepish, but she was fuming.

He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his, and replied, "Um, I'm the only boy I want you to see."

"What?" She was taken off guard by his answer, momentarily forgetting about her anger.

"I don't want you seeing other boys. Just me."

Then, it hit her. He was jealous. She was dumb to not realize it earlier. "You do realize that James and I aren't even friends and we got paired up for a literature assignment that's due on Monday, right?" His mouth formed an "O" as realization dawned upon him. She wasn't mad at him anymore as her amusement over Percy's behavior began to outweigh any anger she had earlier.

He crinkled his nose and if anybody were to ask, she did _not_ find it very cute. "So, you're not seeing any other boys?"

Sighing, she stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around her waist automatically as she assured him, "No, I thought it was pretty clear that we were _exclusively_ dating now. Should I be concerned that you didn't understand that?" She teasingly raised an eyebrow at him.

"No! It's only you," he panicked. Her laugh notified him that she was only kidding and he chuckled along with her. Pulling her closer, he nuzzled into her neck and said, "So, does that mean I'm your boyfriend?"

"You're an idiot," was the only thing she said before pecking him on the lips and dragging him to his car.

* * *

It was August and New York was going through a big heat wave, leaving everyone in the city sweltering in the heat and in search of anything to cool their bodies. Additionally, because Percy is the son of the sea god, so basically some kind of water obsessed freak, she was dragged to the community pool. And, that's how she found herself waiting outside the changing rooms for her idiotic Seaweed Brain to use the bathroom since he refused to listen to her and go before they departed for the pool.

"Annabeth! Hey!" She turned to the voice. A boy about her age was approaching her and as he got closer, she recognized him as an old classmate.

"Michael, hi! How are you?" She acknowledged him as he approached her.

"Pretty good, just trying to find a way to cool down. How have you been since we got out of old Jefferson's history class?" Oh, that's right. They had history together awhile ago and were grouped together for a few class projects.

"Glad to not hear him drone on about the glory days of the war," and they both laughed at the shared memory.

"Hey, babe," she jumped when she heard Percy's voice and felt his arms wrap around her waist, hugging her from behind. He placed a kiss on the pulse point of the side of her neck and she almost elbowed him in shock. He knew that she was most sensitive on her neck. Sure, they've become more and more comfortable with PDA as their relationship progressed, but this was beyond the realms of PDA.

"Hi, I'm Percy, Annabeth's _fiancé_. Who are you?" She could feel Percy's stare directed at Michael. The thing about Percy is that as he got older, not only did he become more attractive, but also _he_ realized he was more attractive. The fighting and swimming did his body well and she was luckily the sole beneficiary of that. So, as he was standing there in front of Michael, the glimpse of that telltale smirk she saw on his face told her that he had a boost of confidence when comparing their physiques.

"Um, I'm Michael. Annabeth and I used to have class together." Michael slightly cowered at Percy's gaze.

"That's cool," Percy passively replied before turning to kiss her cheek. "Ready to get in the water, babe?"

Appearing to be very uncomfortable, Michael excused himself, "Annabeth, it was nice catching up with you. I'll see you later."

"See you!" She said towards Michael's retreating back. Turning to face her fiancé, she looked at him with slight disdain, "You really have to stop doing that when a guy talks to me. He wasn't even doing anything. We had class together a while back."

"I didn't like the way he looked at you," his eyebrows furrowed into a scowl.

"Percy, he's a man looking at a woman in a bikini. That's just human," she was amused by his behavior.

"No, it's not only that. He's looking at you because you're hot." They've been dating for three years and now engaged and she wants to hit herself for blushing when her fiancé calls her attractive. He was still glaring over her shoulder at Michael and his friends. "I want to punch anybody looking at you. You're mine," he said, rather petulantly, pulling her even closer.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Seaweed Brain, if we go around hitting people who stare at us because they think one of us is hot, we'll be assaulting everyone in this pool. It's not like there aren't girls looking at you and you don't see me glaring down any of them."

"I still don't like it."

Grabbing his chin to pull him to face her, she looked into his sea green eyes, "There's no reason to be jealous because I'm _marrying_ you, remember? You're the only one who gets to touch or kiss me and that's all that should matter. You get me for the rest of your life and no one else." She caressed the side of his face and his scowl lightened.

"Okay, I see your point, Wise Girl. But, if anybody comes over and flirts with you, I'm punching them, no matter what you say," he nearly growled.

She stifled a chuckle and to effectively end the conversation, she kissed him hard.

* * *

"The exhibit looks phenomenal. It really resembles what their natural habitat looks like. Mr. Jackson, you did a fantastic job," the man clapped Percy on the back.

Percy blushed at the compliment and ducked his head, "Well, I had a lot of help. It was a team effort."

She smiled at Percy's humbleness. She was so proud of him. He finally found something that he loved doing. She wasn't at all surprised years ago when he came home one day after classes and told her about his plan to pursue marine biology. As the son of a sea god, he had a slight advantage as a marine biologist, but he worked hard and was incredible at his job. Soon after he graduated, he found a job helping with the development of a new aquarium and years later, here they were in the finished facility. The aquarium he worked at was having a formal opening banquet to thank the investors and show the end result of years of work, so the couple were dressed to the nines. Her favorite part about these type of events was seeing Percy in a suit, making him look more handsome and debonair than he already was. Even though she loathed dressing up and enduring the pain of high heels, seeing Percy in a suit and celebrating his success made it all worth it. Plus, the jaw dropped look Percy has when she finishes getting ready was always a nice ego stroke.

A bark of laughter brought her out of her thoughts and she realized that she had completely zoned out the past few minutes. Now, they were surrounded by a few more investors, who eagerly talked with Percy. Deciding that she needed to rest her aching feet, she whispered into Percy's ear, "I'm going to go sit at the bar while you talk. Meet me there when you're done?" He nodded and kissed her cheek as she parted from his side.

Finding her way to the bar, she ordered a gin and tonic and took in the aquarium from where she sat. With his knowledge of what the natural ocean looks like, he excelled at designing the environments for the sea creatures and it was immediately recognized as he was quickly climbed up the ranks to head designer, only a few months after starting his job. Who knew that their jobs would turn out to be so similar? She designed buildings and he designed habitats. Maybe she rubbed off on him more than either of them realized.

"Hi, there. Can I buy you a drink?" She looked to her left and saw a man in a suit and over gelled hair.

She raised her glass with her left hand, making sure her engagement and wedding rings were clearly visible to him, before replying, "I already have one, but thank you."

"Well, I'll buy you your next one. I'm Hunter," he held his hand out for her to shake. Gods, this guy couldn't get a hint.

"Annabeth," she limply shook his hand

"So, what is a pretty woman like you doing alone at the bar?" He leaned in closer to her.

Wondering where Percy was, she pulled away to reply, but, as if he heard his cue, she felt him slide up against her side and wrapped an arm around her waist, forcing the unwelcomed stranger to take a step back. Percy kissed her deeply and she had to pull away to ensure that the kiss was public appropriate.

"Hey, babe," she rolled her eyes. Really? This again? She knew immediately that he was jealous. The two word phrase has become a notorious indication to the emergence of the green-eyed monster in her husband. But, maybe this was the first time that his jealous nature was warranted and she was okay with it.

"Hi, I'm Percy, Annabeth's _husband_ _._ Who are you?" He narrowed his eyes at the man in front of her and in all honesty, she couldn't remember his name at the moment.

"Hunter, uh, I work in the human resources department. Nice to meet you." She almost laughed at Hunter's wince as Percy shook his hand. He was obviously uncomfortable with seeing her husband wrapped around her, realizing that he got caught hitting on a _very_ taken women.

"Well, hi there, Hunter. Thank you for keeping my wife occupied for a bit, but we've got some people to chat with." She could practically feel the sarcasm dripping in Percy's voice. He took her hand and she followed him willingly, wanting to get away from the idiot.

As they were walking, she realized that they were leaving the main party room and into the posterior of the aquarium, the part away from the public. "Where are we going Percy?"

"We're going to a place that I think you'll really love," and he winked at her. They continued down a long hallway and up two flight of stairs, which she did not appreciate and vocally informed him of that.

They finally arrived at an inconspicuous door. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She thought that he would be taking her to some beautiful exhibit, but the dark room he opened to was clearly not what it was. After flipping the lights on, she understood why he brought her here.

"And, this is where my magic happens," Percy grinned at her. It was the designing room. Sketches of different habitats covered a wall and books were strewn across the table along with paper and pencils. This was where he and his team designed all the amazing habitats. She'd only ever been to his office, which he really only had for meeting purposes, and he was adamant on never bringing work home, so she had never seen his drawings. She knew that he could draw as he had taken up sketching as a way to calm his ADHD, usually a drawing of some animal, but never anything as full on as this. He would occasionally take her to the aquarium as they were building the habitats, but because of her little knowledge on marine life, it didn't make much sense to her when she saw glimpses of the building process. He knew that as an architect, the sketches themselves would intrigue her as she loved to look at the design process, maybe even more so than the final produce itself.

Slipping her shoes off, she moved to the center of the wall to see them closer. "Percy, these are amazing. Did you draw all of them?"

"Most are mine," he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"These look so similar to what my plans look like," she noted.

He crept up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, burrowing his face into her hair. "Where do you think I got the process of doing this stuff from?" She could feel his smirk pressed against her neck. They stood their silently as she admired the drawings and he held her.

"Whoever that guy Hunter was is an idiot," he disrupted the silence.

She snorted, turning in his arms, "Are you seriously still thinking about that?"

"Yeah, I saw you totally show him your rings. He should have known that you were off limits." She hummed in agreement.

He continued, "The moment he stepped close to you, I nearly decked him. What is wrong with a guy to think that it would be okay to hit on someone's wife? I would never do that. Not that I would ever think to in the first place since I have you, but-"

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," she grabbed his tie and pulled him in for a searing kiss to end the rant. She wondered what it might say about her that she's adopted the habit of stopping him from any coherent thought process or speaking by assaulting him with her mouth. But, hey, it worked.


	15. Implicit Proposals

"Honey, I'm home!" He dumped his bag on the floor next to the couch. He was tired and hungry and didn't know which he wanted to sate first. He hated getting up for his morning classes this semester, but at least he had the rest of the day free unlike his girlfriend, who had afternoon courses to attend to.

"You know, after living together for two years, you would think that you would stop saying that cliché," he heard Annabeth say from the kitchen. He walked in to see his girlfriend preparing what looked like turkey sandwiches for the two of them. Seeing Annabeth with her hair down and in jeans and an old camp shirt, making lunch for them, brought a warm feeling to his stomach. He couldn't help but think of how good it would be to have her be a permanent fixture in his life and the ring he has been hiding to make that his future. If only he could figure out the perfect way to propose. Pushing that thought aside for the time being, he walked up towards her and wrapped his arms around her midsection, burying his face in her curls.

"Wow, how domesticated," he mumbled into the side of her neck, all the while dodging Annabeth's elbow as she tried to retaliate to his sarcasm.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain. Go grab us drinks and I'll bring these over."

Doing as he was told, he pulled away from her and grabbed a glass of water for the both of them. Annabeth brought over the sandwiches and they made small talk as they ate their lunch, discussing about possible weekends to go visit camp and the recent debacle Jason got himself in when he offered to help Piper teach the two new, younger and inexperienced Aphrodite campers that arrived at camp only a few weeks ago to sword fight.

"It's hilarious how frustrated he gets when the kids don't want to put any effort into learning because they don't want to get sweaty," he chuckled at the expense of his friend.

"They're too new and way too much like the typical Aphrodite kid. They'll grow out of it though. Too bad for him that it'll be a few more months before that happens," his girlfriend laughed as she picked up a napkin.

He caught a glimmer in his peripheral vision field and when he turned to find the source, he couldn't control his visceral reaction, no matter how much he wanted to preserve his dignity. Green eyes blown wide, he rushed to say something, but because it's _him_ and the luck (or lack thereof) he has, he began choking on his food; the piece of sandwich lodged somewhere in his esophagus. He desperately tried beating on his chest and forcing air into his mouth to dislodge the food to no avail.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled in alarm as his face turned ashen. She was out of her seat in a flash and heaved him from the chair. After a few thrusts of the Heimlich, the food shot from his mouth and he desperately, almost greedily, sucked in air. He gripped the sides of the table as Annabeth remained standing behind him with her arms hugging his sides. He could feel her head rested between his shoulder blades.

"You idiot, after two wars and all the other shit we've been through, I will not let you die from a _sandwich_ of all things."

He would have laughed if he wasn't so out of breath. Once he returned to a stable rate of breathing, he asked (alright, so maybe he yelled), incredulously, "Where in Hades did you find that!?"

"What are you talking about, Percy?" She asked, but by the smug tone in her voice, she knew exactly what he was referring to.

Turning around and leaning against the edge of the table, he grabbed her left hand in his and shoved it into her face, "This!"

She merely hummed in response and said, "It's really beautiful, isn't it?" The ring fit perfectly on her and he was beyond proud to have designed it. His father had helped him find the jewels and with Tyson's handiwork in the forgery, the ring was made. It was a simple silver band with a diamond at the center and two smaller emeralds at each side. Tyson had taken some creative liberty and molded the metal around the jewels to look intertwined, a symbol of the strength of their relationship and how intertwined they are within each other.

"Of course it is, I designed it. When did you find this?"

He could tell by her surprised expression that she was impressed that he had it made just for her. "For a man living with a daughter of Athena for the past two and half years, you would think that you would be smarter to hide a proposal ring in your sock drawer. How cliché is that?" He cringed. She may have a point there. "I found it about a year ago."

"A _year!?"_ He exclaimed.

"Yes, Seaweed Brain, a year. Do you know how agonizing it was to wait for this? I got fed up," she shrugged her shoulders as if it wasn't anything out of the norm.

"Well, you skipped a couple steps before wearing it. You know, the me asking part is kind of the point of it," he said dryly to her.

"Percy, you've had this with you for over a _year_ and you still haven't asked me. I just took matters into my own hands or else gods know when you would have managed to gotten up the courage to ask. It's a yes by the way, if you couldn't tell," she pecked him on the lips. "I have to go or I'll be late for class. See you later, Seaweed Brain," and with another peck, she grabbed her bag and left the apartment, leaving her gaping fiancé behind her. He shook his head. She really wasn't ever going to make things easy for him.


	16. Jumping to Conclusions

**A/N: Short little one-shot in a high school pre-Percabeth mortal AU.**

* * *

Before meeting Annabeth, if anybody had told him he would spend the majority of his free time in the library, he would have laughed in your face and suggested you be seen by a doctor for signs of a concussion. But, after the fateful semester long history project assigned during their first semester of high school, Percy became good friends with Annabeth, whose favorite place was the library. And, he may have a tiny, kind of all encompassing crush on the blonde beauty that made all this time in a quiet, studious space all the more bearable for his ADHD riddled body.

So, it's no surprise that he was sitting across from Annabeth in the library after school. It's been two years since they first started working together in the library and nothing besides the coursework had changed.

Bored of his math homework, he decided to distract Annabeth. "Hey, any special plans this weekend?"

She distractedly responded, "no, not particularly. Although, Jason did ask me to go to dinner with him Saturday, but besides that I have this essay due Monday for English."

He choked on his own spit. There was no way he could have heard correctly. She was going to dinner with Jason on Saturday? He was about ready to kill the other boy. At his indignant sound, she broke her gaze away from the screen and looked at him with concern. "Are you okay, Percy? You look like you're heating up there."

"Um, yeah I'm fine. I just didn't expect you to go on a date with Jason." He channeled his frustration and anger at his traitorous friend and he decided to let Jason know just how much he thought of him at the moment.

 _Percy: You good for nothing, girl stealing, worst of humanity, piece of crap._

"Date? I never said anything about a date," she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Wait, it's not a date?" He really did try to contain the way he knew his eyes lit up, hearing this.

She scrunched her nose (could she be any cuter?), "God no, gross. That would be like dating my brother. I'm only going so that he doesn't look like an idiot in front of Piper."

"Oh, that's cool then. I heard they have really good food," he replied off-handedly as he hastily rectified his mistake with Jason.

 _Percy: Um, jk, sorry we're still cool bro._

 _Jason: Annabeth tell you it wasn't a date?_

 _Percy: Fuck off_

She hummed in agreement. A comfortable silence took over as they returned to their respective work. He was in the middle of trying to figure out how to solve his last math problem when Annabeth poked him in the shin and said, "Perce?"

"Hmm?" He still had the end of his pencil between his teeth when he looked up. His eyebrows slightly furrowed when he saw a glint of something in her grey eyes, peering over the top of her laptop screen.

"You know I would never go on a date with Jason, right?"

Confused, he replied, "Yeah, I got that now."

She seemed pleased with his answer. But, before he could turn back to his work, he heard her say, "I'd rather go on a date with you anyways. You're much cuter."

"Huh?" Was his only ineloquent and idiotic response as he tried to not fall out of his chair. The return of the soft clicking noises of her keyboard indicated that she wasn't aware that she possibly could have literally broken his brain. Actually, knowing her, she was fully aware of what she had just done. He could only gape and stare at the blond as she resumed her essay.

* * *

 **A/N: Usually, I don't address reviews in my stories, but this was a guest review so I have no way of contacting them. There was a review that said these one shots were similar to another author on this site and this really rubbed me the wrong way. I guess I have to clarify the obvious and say that the inspiration for these one shots usually come from something that happened in my life (like the one above), a random idea I've had, or a reader contacted me about ideas. It's not completely out there that with how much is written on this site, there can be a few coincidences. But, I assure you, out of respect for my readers and fellow writers, that these were original ideas from myself.**


	17. Surprise

_Percy: Are we still good to go today?_

Piper picked up her phone to see Percy's text. Last week, Percy talked to her about planning a surprise party for Annabeth and as her dutiful roommate, she felt compelled to help the Kelp Head pull it off because he'll need all the help he could get.

 _Piper: Duh. I'll text you when we leave here and we'll be back around 6._

 _Percy: Cool cool_

Percy and Jason were coming over to her and Annabeth's apartment to set up for the party decorations and Sally would help with the food. Her job was to distract Annabeth and she hadn't quite figured out how to do so without raising any suspicions. Annabeth was currently out with Thalia for brunch, leaving the afternoon to Piper. She heard the door unlock and quiet muttering from outside, signaling her roommate's return.

 _Time to distract Annabeth for the day. Percy better not fuck up._

* * *

"Yeah, that was really interesting!" She feigned interest as she and Annabeth exited the subway. They just spent the afternoon at the Museum of Art and Design, one of Annabeth's favorite places in the city. Unlike her friend, Piper didn't have an affinity for architecture, so the museum wasn't necessarily her first choice of activity.

"Their new exhibit was amazing!" She zoned out as Annabeth went on and on about architecture and was only brought out of her reverie when her phone buzzed.

 _Percy: Um, running behind. Don't come home until 7._

 _Piper: Perseus freaking Jackson. She thinks she's getting dinner with you at 7, idiot. What do you want me to do?_

 _Percy: Idk just stall_

 _Piper: I'm going to kill you_

"Let's go to the mall," she dragged Annabeth by the hand back to the subway.

"Wait, what? I thought we were going home."

"Nope, I, um, think we need to get you a new outfit for tonight. Come on, the mall will be great! Let's go!" So what, maybe she slipped in _a little bit_ of charmspeak, sue her, she was doing it for a good cause.

* * *

"If we miss our reservations, you're cooking for us," Annabeth complained as they walked up the stairs to their shared apartment.

She eyed her curiously, "Do you really want me to cook for you? You're better off having Percy cooking for you." She was good at a lot of things, but cooking was not one of them. With all the time he spent with his mom growing up, Percy picked up on her culinary and baking skills. And, man, can he cook.

Annabeth cringed, "Right, I take that back. You're picking up take out for us at least if Percy doesn't want to cook."

"Oh come on, I know you had fun today," Piper spoke as she unlocked the door. She was seconds away from opening it when she realized her grave error. She paused and took a giant step back, now standing behind Annabeth.

"You go first," she was already scrambling for an explanation, knowing that the daughter of Athena was seconds away from asking what she was up to.

"What?"

"Uh, I'm scared," she couldn't help, but cringe. _Really? You can charmspeak and that's what you come up with!?_

"Are you kidding me? We live here!" Annabeth looked at her like she sprouted another head.

Pushing the blond towards the door, all she said was "Just do it, will you?"

She couldn't decipher what Annabeth was muttering under her breath, but she didn't need to be a spawn of the goddess of wisdom to know that Annabeth was questioning her sanity and intelligence just as she was in that moment. Percy owed her big.

"For the love of gods, you are acting -"

The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. The door opened to reveal all of their closest friends screaming, "SURPRISE!" But there was one deep voice that rang closer than all as a dark haired figure jumped out from behind the door. Annabeth shrieked and it was followed by a sickening crunch.

" _Fuck_!" Percy clutched his nose, which was starting to stream blood like a waterfall.

"Seaweed Brain!?"

She wanted to face palm. This was all a disaster. She was about to speak when Jason interrupted her train of thought. "Dumbass, I told you not to do that!" _Gods, bless that man._

"You hit me!" Percy groaned as he clutched his face.

"Well, you scared me!"

She groaned, "Ugh, Annabeth, you go say hi to everyone. I'll go get Percy some nectar." She pushed said girl towards the crowd as she dragged the idiot into the kitchen.

"Lean over the sink or else you're scrubbing this kitchen to get rid of the blood," she ordered as she threw a bundle of napkins in his face and reached into the cabinet to grab a piece of nectar for his definitely broken nose.

"Thanks, Piper," he mumbled. Handing him the piece of nectar, he ingested it and they waited for it to take effect.

"You owe me, Jackson. Annabeth was minutes away from killing me the entire day." She crossed her arms.

"Fine, name your price." The blood finally stopped flowing and he washed the remnants of it from the sink.

"Dinner - "

"Deal."

"Uh uh, Kelp Head. I didn't finish. You're cooking us dinner for a week."

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Fine." Pleased with the retribution, she walked out of the kitchen and greeted Jason with a kiss.

"So, how was distracting Annabeth today?"

"Don't even get me started," she rolled her eyes.

* * *

 **A/N: Very short, but a random idea I wanted to publish.**


End file.
